OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I wish that were true. See you next week!

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

Pipsy wrote "Just found a few short clips with Norio Takashima, the 'father' of Japanese defensive table tennis" This comment on Norio Takashima makes me feel old, as it doesn't seem all that long ago when Takashima was the top defensive player in the world. Anyway, I think that it is fair to compare Takashima in the 1970s to Joo SaeHyuk of today, since in those days Takashima epitomized defensive table tennis. He was probably the favourite of every defensive player in the world. He used inverted both sides (Butterfly Plous), reached the semifinals in the 1975 World Championships, and was capable of beating anyone, including Jonyer and Surbek, who were probably the best players against defense in the world. He chopped the ball rather late, often near floor, and was known amongst his opponents for incredible spin variation. His offense was nothing like that of modern defenders like Joo, but he could kill any shot that was even slightly loose, and his backhand pick hitting was tremendous.

Probably the most impressive point I have ever seen was by Takashima, in the semi-finals of the Japanese national championships. The match was against Hasegawa, and it went into expedite. In this particular point, it was Takashima's serve. Hasegawa was smashing and Takashima lobbing from the barrier. Takashima 11th shot was a lob against a smash, his 12th shot was a low heavy chop against another smash, his 13th shot was a forehand kill of Hasegawa's loop from the backhand side of the table to win the point. (For those not familiar with expedite, Hasegawa would have been given the point if Takashima did not win the point on his 13th shot.) A truly incredible point that I will never forget.

Pipsy also wrote "Being the first great Japanese classical defensive player, what role did Norio Takashima play for defensive players? Shiono: A very big role. I met him only once or twice. Especially his mentality is so great. I respect him a lot.

It seems sort of sad that they have met only once or twice. (I was fortunate to have met Takashima more times.) Perhaps Takashima is no longer active in table tennis . I read on the web that Takashima did go on to obtain a PhD in kinesiology. Perhaps his focus shifted to the science of sports. I don't know.

Anyway, a colleague of mine at the University of Tokyo gave me Takashima's email address. If there is interest, and if Takashima's email address is up-to-date, I can contact him about an OOAK Forum Interview. Because he was the best defender in the world 40 years ago, he may a unique perspective on the history of defensive table tennis. I hope that he would remember me. It would really be wonderful to contact him after all these years.

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

That would be a great idea.

That would be a great honour!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Thanks for the informative post, Birding!
And wow yes, an interview with Takashima would be really interesting!

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

All sounds great.

Within the next several days, I'll compose an email and sent it off to Norio Takashima. Hopefully his email address hasn't changed (if it has, with some help from colleagues in Japan, I can probably find his new address) and he will be interested in the OOAK interview.

Steven

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

Great interview and a nice debate as well.
Does anybody know what he curreltly uses ?
He mentioned Akkadi L2 in the interview and some talk about P4 aswell.

I am really interested in knowing this - if he does use Defplay I might find my old trusty defplay and put rubbers on it again..

Soren

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[color=#FF0000]Setup 1: Joola Chen Weixing - Tenergy 05 2.1 red - Tibhar Grass Dtechs Black 0,5
Current rating : 1825.

He's using P-4 0.5mm.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Looks like Shiono just celebrated his 28th birthday

On behalf of the OOAK-forum I will try to send our best wishes to Shiono and wish him good luck at WTTTC! I hope my contact at Donic Japan (who executed & translated the interview) will help us

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

Thanks Pipsy, that would have great!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

He's just a few months older than me. I didn't know that. Send him best wishes!

Hes 12 days older them me!1

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Victas Koji Matsushita
Donic Bluefire m2 max
TSP Curl p1-r 1.0

Just published at ittf channel - nothing we didn't already know from our own interview

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

Nice find, thanks Pipsy! You're right, our interview pretty much covered that... and a lot more.

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I get notifications of those things at facebook, but Revan already posted it before me in the Shiono-thread.

It's good to see some parts of our interview validated

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