Need help with Russian made racquet

[WARPWOODIE]

I found a racquet today which I need help identifying and for specs.
On the racquet/loop are these characters:
nporpeec
On the mono neck:
rnabcnoptnpom
Anyone familiar with this racquet?
No strings on it and am wondering if there are shared holes for stringing?
Thanks in advance for any information!

[PhotoBlue]

Originally Posted by WARPWOODIE

I found a racquet today which I need help identifying and for specs.
On the racquet/loop are these characters:
nporpeec
On the mono neck:
rnabcnoptnpom
Anyone familiar with this racquet?
No strings on it and am wondering if there are shared holes for stringing?
Thanks in advance for any information!

Does it look more like "прогреес" and "гпавспортпром"?

[WARPWOODIE]

Originally Posted by PhotoBlue

Does it look more like "прогреес" and "гпавспортпром"?

Yes. It is aqua green in color with tear drop shaped head.

[Kalin]

Well, "прогреcс" means 'Progress' and it must be the racquet's name while "гпавспортпром" (Glavsportprom) is a typical Russian-language monstrosity of an abbreviation meaning 'Main (or Central) Sports Enterprise' so it is the maker's name.

I'm not sure if this helps at all

[WARPWOODIE]

Originally Posted by Kalin

Well, "прогреcс" means 'Progress' and it must be the racquet's name while "гпавспортпром" (Glavsportprom) is a typical Russian-language monstrosity of an abbreviation meaning 'Main (or Central) Sports Enterprise' so it is the maker's name.

I'm not sure if this helps at all

Thanks Kalin! Any information is helpful. Anyway, I was checking around and found "80's tennis racquets"...basically, the racquet is very similar to the Fisher SuperForms and Kneissel Red Star. It appears that they have shared holes for stringing. It is in mint condition and was never strung. When I asked the lady at the Goodwill if she could give me discount because it lacked strings, she agreed and sold it to me for $3.00 It would be interesting to know the relative value of it now...being that this is an 80's racquet, the latter part of the cold war era.

[Kalin]

Found a link at rambler.ru (just paste 'прогреcс главспортпром теннис' in the Search box)

http://krsk.24au.ru/1913634/

The seller says it is 'made in the USSR under Kneissl Austria license'

Edit: seems they also made the 'Giant' (Гигант)!

http://emarket.ua/objavlenie/tennisn...m-ID1pEWf.html

Is this an Estusa/Puma shape??

[WARPWOODIE]

Originally Posted by Kalin

Found a link at rambler.ru (just paste 'прогреcс главспортпром теннис' in the Search box)

http://krsk.24au.ru/1913634/

The seller says it is 'made in the USSR under Kneissl Austria license'

Edit: seems they also made the 'Giant' (Гигант)!

http://emarket.ua/objavlenie/tennisn...m-ID1pEWf.html

Is this an Estusa/Puma shape??

Thanks again! Yea, the first link is the racquet I have. It seems to be a midsize head. Will string tonight...should be fun to hit with. BTW, also with the purchase came the head cover...also plastered in Russian

[maxpotapov]

I believe it was licensed from Kneissl. The first graphite/fiberglass composite racquet made in USSR. It was quite challenging to play with, like with any mono I suppose.

[BorgCash]

Originally Posted by Kalin

Found a link at rambler.ru (just paste 'прогреcс главспортпром теннис' in the Search box)

http://krsk.24au.ru/1913634/

The seller says it is 'made in the USSR under Kneissl Austria license'

Edit: seems they also made the 'Giant' (Гигант)!

http://emarket.ua/objavlenie/tennisn...m-ID1pEWf.html

Is this an Estusa/Puma shape??

There were three types of racquets produced in former Soviet Union under Kneissl license: Master (White Star Pro), Progress (Blue Star Mid) and Gigant
(Red Star Big). First they looked like real Kneissl with its original brand name written on, later the quality got down and the racquets got russian names. They were very popular back then because you couldn't afford good quality tennis racquet in the USSR (except somebody brought it from abroad).
I have some of these racquets, will share the pictures next week.

[BorgCash]

Originally Posted by WARPWOODIE

Thanks again! Yea, the first link is the racquet I have. It seems to be a midsize head. Will string tonight...should be fun to hit with. BTW, also with the purchase came the head cover...also plastered in Russian

First covers were Kneissl original, then there were soviet-made covers from factory in Kiev, Ukraine.

[Love50]

Speaking of Russian racquets... does anyone know anything about a racquet made by Xokken (I believe that is "hockey" in Russian with the proper Cyrillic spelling). Looks like a Wilson Profile clone.

[BorgCash]

Originally Posted by Love50

Speaking of Russian racquets... does anyone know anything about a racquet made by Xokken (I believe that is "hockey" in Russian with the proper Cyrillic spelling). Looks like a Wilson Profile clone.

Hockey in russian will be Хоккей.
Can you post the picture please?

[BorgCash]

Originally Posted by Love50

Speaking of Russian racquets... does anyone know anything about a racquet made by Xokken (I believe that is "hockey" in Russian with the proper Cyrillic spelling). Looks like a Wilson Profile clone.

There is an " Experimental Factory "Hockey" in Moscow, which produced mostly hockey sticks and some tennis racquets.

[Love50]

Originally Posted by BorgCash

Hockey in russian will be Хоккей.
Can you post the picture please?

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5c0983c4.jpg

The middle one.

[BorgCash]

Originally Posted by Love50

http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5c0983c4.jpg

The middle one.

I see, there is Композит (Composite material) written on.
I think the racquet is not good for playing, like a piece of plastic, may be i'm wrong.
See nice old Fischer (Superform model?), what is on the top?

[Love50]

Originally Posted by BorgCash

I see, there is Композит (Composite material) written on.
I think the racquet is not good for playing, like a piece of plastic, may be i'm wrong.
See nice old Fischer (Superform model?), what is on the top?

Thanks for the translation!

I would agree with you about the playability The construction looks cheap and I didn't like how it swings. If any collector wants it for free (so that they can say they have a Russian racquet), drop me a note.

Not sure why I bought it, must have been to take advantage of bundled shipping from Europe...

The racquet at the top is a MAG-I T201 from Tremont Research out of Chicago. It's a composite sandwich racquet similar to the Head stuff that Arthur Ashe used.

[Kalin]

I like the colour of the Composite model, though! Seems like a nice paintjob. We need more olive-green racquets

[BorgCash]

Originally Posted by Love50

Thanks for the translation!

I would agree with you about the playability The construction looks cheap and I didn't like how it swings. If any collector wants it for free (so that they can say they have a Russian racquet), drop me a note.

Not sure why I bought it, must have been to take advantage of bundled shipping from Europe...

The racquet at the top is a MAG-I T201 from Tremont Research out of Chicago. It's a composite sandwich racquet similar to the Head stuff that Arthur Ashe used.

Never heard about this racquet company. Was it a small one?

[BorgCash]

Originally Posted by Kalin

I like the colour of the Composite model, though! Seems like a nice paintjob. We need more olive-green racquets

I think they used the paint that was at the factory at that moment.

We have a lot of different composite soviet/russian-built racquets here in Moscow, but the real good were only that licenced Kneissls.
Progress and Giant are quite common, the rarest one is Master.

[BorgCash]

Originally Posted by WARPWOODIE

Thanks Kalin! Any information is helpful. Anyway, I was checking around and found "80's tennis racquets"...basically, the racquet is very similar to the Fisher SuperForms and Kneissel Red Star. It appears that they have shared holes for stringing. It is in mint condition and was never strung. When I asked the lady at the Goodwill if she could give me discount because it lacked strings, she agreed and sold it to me for $3.00 It would be interesting to know the relative value of it now...being that this is an 80's racquet, the latter part of the cold war era.

The typical price for it here in Moscow is about $10-17.
The racquets were produced in 1989-92 as i remember.
During the production time the quality decreased, so the best were made in 1989-90.