TECHMANN rackets: Thin beam, midsize 12+oz heaven (PICS)

[MAXXply]

...No not really heaven but still, a highly playable combination of heavy and headlight balance in braided graphite, boron and kevlar flavours (or so they claimed).

TECHMANN was a very short-lived Aussie brand of the late 80s whose brand presence was built on a bunch of local coaching pros who endorsed the rackets and fronted their marketing campaign. Heck, with the money they saved on using an ATP pro they still spent big - I recall them running local 30-second TV ads ad-nauseum during Wimbledon '89.

I'm guessing the rackets were Taiwanese-made sticks but they don't have the hallmarks or DNA of Kennex-made rackets so I think they came out of a different OEM manufacturer. I have also not seen the frames rebadged under any of the other more established brands. Perhaps you may have seen them under obscure European sports/retail brands? Inter Sports? Ascot? Marathon? etc.

All are conventional specs from the era: 90-95 sq.in, 12+oz. weight, 16-18mm thin box beams with straight edges. Leather grips standard. Comfortable flex 60-63RA. "WPS" - "Well Portioned Weight System" (seriously). Very solid, filled-handle feel. Plastic grip collars.

Aussie TT'ers with long memories may wish to chime in if they recognise anyone in the print ad or have any anecdotes they wish to share about the brand.