OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Carbonman wrote: That is turning logic upside down. It makes little sense to demand that, if a certain system of play is effective, every pro player should use it. The argument should be that, if there is a top professional player using a certain system of play, obviously it is working; the logical corollary is that this system might work for others as well, though not necessarily for everyone. As I mentioned, modern defense using anti worked for a member of the Chinese national team; it is reasonable to expect it may work for others as well, then.
This has no basis in actual fact. First, according to expert players, it is quite possible to generate heavy backspin with anti; to quote from the review of Neubauer Anti Special (an anti specifically designed to use away from the table) presented by the expert team of Noppen-test.de: " Viel Unterschnitt ist in der tischfernen Abwehr möglich und verwirrende Schnittwechsel sorgen für größtmöglichen Störeffekt." (transl.: Defending away from the table it is possible to generate lots of backspin, and confusing spin-variation produce the greatest possible disturbing effect). Second, there are other rubbers used by professional defenders which generate less spin than inverted rubbers or long pips rubbers, for instance short pips (the best Chinese female defenders use it, as did former champion Ding Song, to name only a few), and using them does not result in one-dimensional play at all. It is quite possible to produce floats with anti as well.

Look, I am not trying to pick fights here, and I dislike taking apart other member's posts like this. Everybody is entitled to his or her opinion. But I firmly believe that the right to have an opinion comes with the obligation to back it up with actual fact and to give it up when proven wrong. Otherwise having an opinion would turn into voicing prejudice. Let's collect facts, not bicker. Only knowledge will help us on. I am far from an expert on anti, but I am in the process of acquainting myself both with what is really known about anti and how it plays in practice, and everything I have learned so far indicates that anti has a very real potential in table-tennis, on many levels, and for many styles.

_________________
Without opponent, no match.

Keys is right, there is potential in anti. There are many ways to use it. I can chop from a distance with it easy, it is just not my usual way to play. But when chopping for a student, I have tried a few things, one is different strokes for chopping.
I can do a big stroke full chop coming down on the ball or I can open the bat more and go into the ball more. It only takes a little difference in stroke to change the spin.
I was going to test my anti against pips for spin continuation when blocking or chopping but the school was closed so maybe tomorrow. The plan is to have my partner loop and I will block or chop, let the ball hit the floor and judge backspin by the what the ball does when it hits the floor. This method is a good, real life test of a rubber.