‘Victas’ is a recently introduced Japanese table tennis brand. It had originally been ‘TSP’ that is the traditional Japanese brand, and one of the biggest table tennis brands in the world. But, it was acquired by Svenson Holdings in 2009 after facing a management crisis in the early 2000s, and then launched new ‘Victas’ brand in 2011. Although there was some trial and error in the beginning, awareness is rapidly increasing after adopting a unified CI. In 2017, the company name was changed to Victas, and in 2021, the existing TSP brand was abolished and all major products were incorporated into Victas. One of those products is ‘Swat Carbon’ which is the fiber version of ‘Swat’ which was originally the best selling 7-ply wood blade of TSP brand.

‘Swat’ was launched in 2012 under TSP brand as the variation of ‘Swat’ series. ‘Swat’ is the 7-ply wood blade which broke the stereotype of 7-ply wood blade and realize the characteristics of ‘holding the ball well and providing high stability’. As the variation of ‘Swat’ series, ‘Swat Carbon’ keeps the concept of ‘Swat’ while increasing power by adding fleece carbon which is less elastic but much softer than woven carbon fiber. ‘Swat’ is recommended for the players who mainly play with continuous topspin.

‘Swat Carbon’ (right) is a carbon blade, but it shares the concept of ‘Swat’ (left) which is a soft all-wood blade.

The new CI of Victas is being applied for Victas ‘Swat Carbon’. The theme of new Victas CI is splitting. The printing on the head, the color blocks of handle and the Victas logo in the lens represent the splitting image. The name of blade is written above the left side, and the specification and technology are written belowe the right side of head splitting image. It is interesting that product name isn’t written in the foreside lens at handle. This graphic theme is being applie for most of Victas blades.

The construction of blae is an outer-fiber construction whose artificial material is inserted directly under the top layer. The kinf of fiber is fleece carbon which is much less elastic and much softer than woven carbon fiber. Top layer is heat-treated Limba, the relatively thick middle layer and the relatively thin center layer are Ayous. Overall thickness is around 6.1mm.

The width of FL handle is arouond 26mm ~ 26.5mm (at bulge) ~ 26.2mm (at the narrowest point) ~ 35.2 (at handle end), and the thickness of FL handle is around 23.5mm at thumb and around 26.4mm at the end. Because the handle end is wide and thick the grip is quite stable and firm although the middle of the handle is somewhat narrow. The size of ST handle (not shown in this article) is around 28mm (width) x around 23mm (thickness). The upper and lower face of ST handle is almost flat.

There isn’t any printing on the backside of head. But, at the backside of handle, there is a lens that includes the name of the product.

The size of head is around 158mm x 151mm.

The transparent plastic lens is applied for both sides of handle. ‘Victas’ logo and the product name are printed in the foreside lens and the backside lens respectively. The foreside lens with Victas logo is common for most of Victas blades.

At the end of handle, small aluminum plate that includes engraved Victas logo mark is applied.

The design theme of printing on foreside is applied for most of Victas blades. It is a very unique design and is consistent for every product, any one who sees it can tell at a glance that it is a Victas blade.

However, to disinguish between individual products, customers much check the name of the blade at the left side of head or in backside lens if they don’t have any prior knowledge on the blade construction.

Left one is ‘Swat Carbon’ which is a 5+2 ply outer-carbon blade. The design concept of ‘Swat Carbon’ is 100% same as that of ‘Swat’ except for the product name and the description on specification.

Following are the performance indices of Swat Carbon (avg.weight = 86.0g) :

– Ep = 1.49

– Ec = 1.29 (Ec/Ep = 0.86)

– Vp = 1.10

– Vl = 1.20 (Vl/Vp = 1.09)

Please note that above are average values and can be updated by further measurement.

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