OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Joo Se Kev: I used Friendship 563, 563-1 and Raystorm before with reactor sponge or kokutaku sponge with 1.8mm and 2.0mm before. I would recommend something around 1.5mm to 2.0mm for shortpips in chopping games. I would say 563 is the closest to LP.

Bogeyhunter: It's true that defensive chops and spin variations are not as good in sp, but it has more varities of strokes (hard-hitting, relooping, fast blocks, speed variation and side-spin chops). Notice that Hou did not move back from the table as far and as often as Joo, meaning that sp choppers have to be more aggresive and offensive than the LP choppers. Please don't use Hou solely for the comparison to measure the effectiveness of SP choppers. He is still very young, he might get more consistant in latter period. Ding Song succeed in being one of the best choppers in his time with SP.

Do you think that a thinner sponge, perhaps between 1.0-1.5mm might offer more control? I would think that 2.0mm sponge with short pips would be pretty fast, especially for chopping.

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Anything between 1.0 to 1.5 mm would be just fine. Actually I prefer thicker sponge around 1.3 to 1.8mm for chopping games, but its actually up to you. Thickness of 1.0mm to 1.5mm will be enough to assist consistant counter-attacks.

I think part of the answer here is that with sticky pips (Chinese) disguise becomes more difficult. Rather than make the pips less sticky, the Chinese are using short pips to allow sudden shifts from float to reverse spin with minimal shift in stroke. Obviously its only part of the answer.

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