OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Fantastic interview! Honest, humble and insightful. Thank you to all those who made this possible.

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BTY Korbel ST
Red FH: BTY Tenergy T80 1.9mm
Black BH: TSP Curl P4 1.5mm

One statement of Shiono particularly caught my attention. This is "control is most important for me. I think stability is the most important thing for a defensive player"

This comment reminds me of the issue of what is more important for a defensive player, stability/control versus a strong offense. Back in the 1970s, this wasn't an issue, as most/all defensive players focused on stability/control. We all used slow blades, slow rubber, and our offense consisted of flat forehand kill shots and backhand pick hits. As far as I know, there were no defensive players at that time that ever attacked even rarely at a distance like Joo SaeHyuk.

When I returned to table tennis two years ago, it seemed that stability/control versus a strong offense was not an issue either, as a strong forehand attack appeared to be essential for a high level defensive player. To me, this made sense. With the faster rubbers and blades, and rubbers with greater spin of modern-day table tennis, a strong offensive player could do a few slow-paced, controlled loops, and then blast through a defensive player with a powerful loop. I had thought that the only way around this problem was greater spin variation for the defensive player and a powerful counter attack/loop against these slow-paced, controlled loops. In essence, it seemed that the high level modern-day defensive player needed to vary the spin greatly and to dare the offensive player to attack aggressively, otherwise the defensive would win the point with his/her attack, as does Joo SaeHyuk, Chen Weixing, Seo Hyowon, and others. For these reasons, I had thought that classical defense was no longer viable in high level modern table tennis.

Shiono's success clearly proved that my understanding was wrong. Because of Shiono, it does indeed seem that stability/control versus a strong offense is a relevant question for modern-day table tennis, and focusing on stability/control, a strong offense, or both, all make sense. I think that this is rather interesting. Perhaps, if Shiono keeps up his success, we will see more classical defensive players in the future.

Steven

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Butterfly Joo Se Hyuk
Butterfly Tenergy 80-FX 1.9mm
TSP Curl P1R 1.4-1.7mm
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Returned to table tennis September 2011
Canada National Team Member, 1973-1975
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1972-1987
Brickell Balsa/Birch 3-ply Blade
Yasaka Mark V 1.5mm
Joola Toni Hold AntiTopspin 2.5mm

Donic alligator soft as a substitute for P4?


GO Shiono

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brokkie

This is so beautifull... and i'm also really happy that many of my questions were included in the interview!!!

Go Shiono, we wish you best luck and we can't wait to watch you play again and again!!!

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My Paddle
Blade: Butterfly Defence III ST
FH: Baracuda 1.8 (black)
BH: Curl p1-r 1.0 (red)

That was awesome.

I think Shiono downplays his offensive capabilities. In fact, a lot of his points come from his strong forehand attack. He doesn't strike me as a classical chopper, which seems to be what he's implying. Without that big forehand, he couldn't have won.

I *love* that encourages others to take up the defensive art! Many defenders seem wary of promoting it.

His take on thin rubbers 0.5 makes perfect sense to me. The Koreans use thicker sponges not because they know it's better, more b/c they've probably never tried thinner sponges! (I can't find 0.5 here!) Seo Hyowon's interview was revealing that way, and I play in Korea. Basically, as kids they're trained to use whatever their coaches say and that's that. TT here is very strange in many ways, but that's whole nother topic

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Kim Kyung Ah + Skyline TG 3 Neo + 799 1.2mm

That was awesome.

I think Shiono downplays his offensive capabilities. In fact, a lot of his points come from his strong forehand attack. He doesn't strike me as a classical chopper, which seems to be what he's implying. Without that big forehand, he couldn't have won.

I *love* that encourages others to take up the defensive art! Many defenders seem wary of promoting it.

His take on thin rubbers 0.5 makes perfect sense to me. The Koreans use thicker sponges not because they know it's better, more b/c they've probably never tried thinner sponges! (I can't find 0.5 here!) Seo Hyowon's interview was revealing that way, and I play in Korea. Basically, as kids they're trained to use whatever their coaches say and that's that. TT here is very strange in many ways, but that's whole nother topic

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Kim Kyung Ah + Skyline TG 3 Neo + 799 1.2mm

This interview is beatifully done. The questions are very good and the answers are so alive. I am an admirer of chopping although I play inverted. It strikes me that he uses inverted for chopping until he was 18. I love chopping using inverted! I can see the lights dimming. Darkside, here I come!

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Setup 1 : Bty Mizutani Jun FH : Tenergy 80 Max BH : Acuda Blue P3

Thks, great interview. Shiono please stay with P4, else I also have to reconsider

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Defense Blade with pimples on one side ...

wow
This isnt an interview. Its more like a chat between 2 great friends.
Shiono is such a sport. He is so humble and fun.

Well done OOAK, well done Donic, well done Shiono

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President and Head Coach at Tony's Table Tennis
http://www.ttshop.co.za
http://www.facebook.com/tonystabletennis

Agree with all the above posters in thanking OOAK for this interesting interview. This is a great board and I appreciate all the work done by so many.

Very interesting perspective and insight on a true chopper game. Lots to think about and consider for all defenders.

Shiono lucky boy, indeed.

No secret, Mr. Adham Sharara is really much font of the defenders, he did designedly make the ball bigger by 0.5 mm to benefit Shiono over the hard loopers.

I am much glad for this brave boy.

SHIONO FOR THE WORLD CHAMPION !!!!

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http://tabletennista.com/2011/8/shararas-new-developments-for-table-tennis

I don't believe having a bigger ball will help defenders

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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Thank you all for appreciating the interview so much! I really enjoyed contributing, but especially Mr. Takizawa and Shiono deserve credit for this great result. Donic Japan & Germany were also very pleased with it and even asked our permission to use the interview on their facebook, website, magazine, etc.. Which of course we allowed, in return for a link to our forum !

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Exclusive OOAK-Interview with Joo Saehyuk | Masato Shiono | Panagiotis Gionis

You go, Pipsy!

...

I also want to thank Igor for his informative post again. I even think, if the ball was still 38mm, Shiono never would have reached world stage. Now that the ball will be 0,5mm larger, even lower leveled defenders like Pattantyus (and myself I might add) will make chance to defeat the likes of Ma Long, Xu Xin, Zhang Jike,...

I also want to thank all involved, from everyone who asked questions to Shiono himself. The interview turned out even better than I could have imagined.

I really think we caught Shiono in a wonderful time in his life. I think him being really happy with his life in and out of table tennis right now has been the major factor in both elevating his game and being able to share with us such a down to earth interview.

Also I thought it was very interesting that his 3 most memorable matches were all loses! I think this really speaks to his character and his outlook on Table Tennis. It seems he makes a very concious effort to getting better and you can learn a lot more about your game from loses than you can victories.

Finally, I think the next time I grab a 6 pack of beer it will be Sapporo, maybe that is his secret Burgers and Beers. Very down to earth indeed

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VKM
Tenergy 05 2.1
Feint Long III .5