OOAK Table Tennis Forum

This post will dissect and explain some rpb and tpb grips and modifications that pros such as Ma Lin and Xu Xin. I have found these grips to be the most useful in playing a rpb game while still keeping the option of a traditional penhold backhand.

Traditional Backhand Grip

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blade: Yasake Extra 7/Butterfly Primorac CS 2000
FH: Haifu Blue Whale II/DHS Hurricane III
BH: Bryce Speed FX/Palio Macro Era

Reverse Penhold Backhand.
The transition between traditional grip and rpb grip should be a simply matter of pressure exchange.
pressure:
Traditional: between index and side of middle finger

RPB: Between thumb and tops of fingers.

Apply pressure with the thumb. This will naturally close the angle of the bat and roll the the backhand side onto the tips/pads of your fingers rather than only the side of your middle finger.
Above you see that the angle changes with virtually no change in wrist angle.

The new pressure should create a gap between your middle finger and the backhand side

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blade: Yasake Extra 7/Butterfly Primorac CS 2000
FH: Haifu Blue Whale II/DHS Hurricane III
BH: Bryce Speed FX/Palio Macro Era

This change in angle will allow for a position that will give your wrist more leverage and more snapping power.
If you maintain the traditional grip while trying to perform a rpb, you must change the angle of the wrist significantly in order to open up the face of the backhand side. Shown Below.

With the rpb grip the same open angle can be achieved while keeping the wrist in a good position.

Above the angle is the same, but with the wrist at a much more close angle, with the knuckles forward.

_________________
blade: Yasake Extra 7/Butterfly Primorac CS 2000
FH: Haifu Blue Whale II/DHS Hurricane III
BH: Bryce Speed FX/Palio Macro Era

nicely done...

one thing to remember is to not tense up the index finger always keep it loose or you could hurt yourself.. i know i have a few times , especially if you try to loop very hard. it will feel like your tendon is about to snap. also relaxing the index finger to a safe point without letting the bat fly away allows for a faster snap and less fatigue

also i thing WH uses a separate grip from Ma and Xu. while Ma and Xu use more TPB than RPB( mainly Ma , Xu is about 50-50)

WH grip seems permanent for PRB and FH. as in the same grip through out. where the BH finger tips are flat on the rubber and not stacked. this makes sense as he never uses TPB. this allows for the quicker transition from RPB to FH.

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my youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/decoyla?feature=mhum

Main: / secondary / LP
Blade: DHS Hurricane hao/ Blade- Hurricane Hao 2
FH: Skyline 3(Blue Sponge)/ FH- Nittaku H3 pro
BH: Omega Asia/ BH- Calibra Tour H

^^ exactly
Wang Hao sticks with his version of the rpb grip and uses it exclusively

Ma Lin and Xu Xin use this sort of grip switching method to use both backhands

_________________
blade: Yasake Extra 7/Butterfly Primorac CS 2000
FH: Haifu Blue Whale II/DHS Hurricane III
BH: Bryce Speed FX/Palio Macro Era

with ma lin he really only uses RPB for medium/heavy backspin hardly taking on any top spin balls( unless out of position).. for top spin its always a punch of some sort mostly TPB but sometimes uses an RPB punch. which seems faster... there is a video of the doubles in which you see ma lin blast the ball with an rpb punch.. jsut cant remember which doubles it was.. im sure it was this year and with Chen Qi

_________________
my youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/decoyla?feature=mhum

Main: / secondary / LP
Blade: DHS Hurricane hao/ Blade- Hurricane Hao 2
FH: Skyline 3(Blue Sponge)/ FH- Nittaku H3 pro
BH: Omega Asia/ BH- Calibra Tour H

I have seen a lot of Xu Xin's matches and I have come to the conclusion that lately he has pretty much left traditional backhand out of his arsenal. He doesn't even use a TBH block in the warmup anymore. I think he's doing this to make it easier for him with no need to think which side to use, get a more consistent RPB and to take his game to the level of Ma Long and Zhang Jike.

Yes, I agree. He favors rpb more and more now. It provides less confusion since he doesn't have three options to choose from. I still see him employ (and I do so myself) in a bind near the crossover point reflexively. It's just a nice advantage of playing penhold this way. Having the option not having a crossover point with tpb, yet still having attacking power with the rpb. Since Xu Xin already has a base with tpb, as his rpb continues to improve I believe we will see him become a more and more powerful player.

_________________
blade: Yasake Extra 7/Butterfly Primorac CS 2000
FH: Haifu Blue Whale II/DHS Hurricane III
BH: Bryce Speed FX/Palio Macro Era