OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I heard he uses 1615 in OX

Interesting. Do you know what his forehand rubber and blade are by any chance?

The player to raise the eyebrows in the third round of the Boys’ Singles event at the World Junior Championships in Linz, Austria on Friday 16th December 2005 was Sweden’s Fabian AKERSTRÖM; he beat the Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany, the young man who won the Junior Boys’ Singles title at the European Youth Championships earlier in the year.

Fabian AKERSTRÖM won 11-8, 11-7, 6-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-13, 11-8.
Fabian AKERSTRÖM en route to the quarter-finals
Sweden has enjoyed an incredible dynasty of male players of the very highest calibre in the last fifty years, players who have displayed their supreme attacking skills to gain success on the world stage. Fabian AKERSTRÖM could well be the next to follow in the illustrious footsteps of those who have gone before but his playing style is unlike his predecessors, he is different.

Equivalent
The nearest equivalent I can give to the way he plays is LO Chuen-Tsung of Hong Kong who competed in the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988, in Barcelona in 1992 and in Atlanta in 1996. Furthermore, he reached the semi-final of the Men’s Singles event at the World Championships in Gothenburg in 1985 and was a valued member of the Levallois club in France, as they progressed to success in the Europe Club Cup of Champions. He proved that his style of play could work at the very highest levels.

So what was LO Chuen-Tsung’s style of play?

Long Pimples
He was right handed, basically an attacking player who had a fast forehand and tried to play that stroke at every opportunity; nothing unusual in the fact but on the backhand he used long pimples, staying close to the table, to execute a variation of orthodox and chopped block strokes whilst returning with backspin away from the table if the need arose.

Fabian AKERSTRÖM is very much the same but perhaps relies on his backhand block a little more than the very athletic LO Chuen-Tsung. However, his forehand technique is a model of perfection, very orthodox with the elbow bending quickly at impact to impart topspin on the ball. It is a shorter stroke than that which was used by LO Cheun-Tsung but it repeats time and again and is thoroughly safe and reliable.

Lyckerby
The young Swedish player is seventeen years old and plays for Lyckerby in the Swedish League with Australia’s William HENZELL and China’s SUN Jianfei. He started to play table tennis when he was seven years old in Karlskrone, in the south east of Sweden, and three years ago changed from using reversed rubber on the backhand to using long pimples with no sponge on the backhand.

“I was advised by my coach Hans THALIN to make the change”, explained Fabian AKERSTRÖM. “He’s a really good coach; he’s really good at helping players who use long pimples, a lot of players in my club use long pimples.”

Commended
It was a tough match against OVTCHAROV who is to be commended on his splendid attitude, when it’s close he is very strong mentally, a point that was clearly illustrated in the sixth game. The Swede was leading by three games to two and was 9-5 ahead; the German fought and won the game 13-11. It seemed the tide might have turned in the German’s favour but it was not to be, the Swedish teenager recovered to win the game.

“I felt I played well today, I kept trying to play the ball wide”, said Fabian AKERSTRÖM. “Dimitrij is very safe, he’s good in rallies.” OVTCHAROV is consistent, a very promising player and his sixth game success underlined his mental toughness.

Excited
“In the sixth game I think I just became too excited, I played too many forehands”, continued Fabian AKERSTRÖM. “In the seventh game I went back to doing what had worked in the first two games, I used my backhand block more.” On the backhand he uses long pimples with no sponge. “It was important that I was not too aggressive”, he continued. “I had to be patient and wait for my chance.”

He was patient and he won and now plays Japan’s Taku TAKAKIWA who beat Germany’s Steffen MENGEL in round three.

In the remaining round three matches, top seed Jun MIZUTANI beat Croatia’s Tomislav KOLAREK whilst second seed, also from Japan, Seiya KISHIKAWA defeated France’s Vincent BAUBET. Meanwhile, China’s FANG Li overcame Chinese Taipei’s CHIANG Hung-Chieh, Russia’s Kirill SKACKOV halted the run of Korea’s LEE Jun Kwon, Chinese Taipei’s HUANG Sheng-Sheng ended the progress of France’s Adrien MATTENET whilst Patrick BAUM brought success to Germany, he defeated Turkey’s JIANG Pengfei.

All I can find so far in the french forums is that he was playing with OX 1615 in 1988, and the reply was last posted in 2006, and still confirms he is still using OX rubber.... No confirmation on any recent videos or equipment use though

Thanks MM. I think he only just stopped competing in the last year or so. Maybe he'll turn up in some senior events.

All I can find so far in the french forums is that he was playing with OX 1615 in 1988, and the reply was last posted in 2006, and still confirms he is still using OX rubber.... No confirmation on any recent videos or equipment use though

The French are spot on. Lo did play DF 1615 Ox as confirmed by his former team mate to me recently.

I am told by a team mate of Jiang Jialiang no less that he regards Lo as the best LP player ever.