OOAK Table Tennis Forum

That blade is supposedly a "female" blade, does it mean it is not optimal/recommended for men to use it? I also heard its a "dead-line" and will not be continued. My current blade feels too slow and I would have liked the upgrade to the LSW but if there is something very alike that would suit me better I would like it too. (My playstale is offensive, my strenghts are close to table topsin, 3rd ball attack, serves)

Liu Shiwen (the person) is pretty good at close to the table topspin. Of course you could use her blade. It's an innerforce zlf with some pink detailing and a slightly different handle.

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Yoko Ono

Reminds me of the "Lady Ball" in golf...

Iskandar

One could argue that amateur TT is much closer to the game played by female pros, at least as far as power and ball speed is concerned. So may be we should look closer at what Liu Shiwen is playing with, as opposed to Fan Zhendong etc.

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

wont be as embarassing as using Liu Shiwen skirt.

ok, jokes aside, no harm on using female blade, except you are Uncle Gorillus (Butterfly handle usually on the small size)

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"Female" blades?

Like "Female" bikes, cars, bowling balls, guns, motorcycles, or skateboards. There is no difference except in color trim or (if applicable) size.

It's just a re-branded innerforce ZLF as BRS said, which makes it an excellent, albeit overpriced, blade

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My current blade is the butterfly grubba st all-, would the handle be fine for me (i would probably pick up the "new" version of the lsw not the old one, with ST handle)? From what I have seen the handle is equal in size, but I might be wrong there.

ROFL...



Er... "female" and "male" bikes ARE different in terms of frame shape. (Or they used to be.) You can't wear a skirt and pedal a men's bike. At least, not unless it was a VERY short skirt.

The "Lady Ball" in golf was an interesting case. They did design it for women professionals who couldn't hit as hard as the men. Apparently if you hit the ball at the same strength as a female pro this ball would give you a few extra yards as opposed to a ball that was designed to be hit harder. If you hit it harder you wouldn't see the advantage. Well, it wasn't long before male Sunday players discovered that they, er, hit like ladies. And the ball gave THEM a few extra yards. Problem was, initially, they wouldn't be caught DEAD playing with something meant for women. But eventually their friends using the ball would start beating them, and they'd surreptitiously go to the pro shop and ask (when no one was around) for the "lady ball". Remember listening to this in NPR over 20 years ago.

Iskandar

This very true.

Golf is one of view sport where ladies equipment differ considerably than gentlemen's.

They usually using more flexible shafts than Regular male clubs, and installed with stronger settings (Installing shaft intended for lower numbered clubs). These kind of golf clubs really hard to use for faster swinger, too easy to bend and ruin accuracy.

To add what Iskandar said, in 201x, the manufacturers catch on, those ladies ball are reintroduced as low compressions balls, e.g. Wilson Duo, which cater for either gendered slow swing players.

Now, the next question is,

How to design a table tennis blade and rubbers "exclusively" for women? I admit I don't have any idea.

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If you got the coin ($249.00usd) you can use it any way you should please. Although if you're interested in this blade, I'd just go with a regular Innerforce ZLF blade which is (189.00 usd?) and have a blast. Decent blade, pretty fast with some good control, would deem it OFF- more than OFF.

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"When in doubt, chop. If still in doubt, chop again" USATT 1607
I.Tibhar Stratus Power Defense; FH: Victas V > 15 Extra 2.0mm; BH: Giant Dragon Meteorite 0.5mm
II. Butterfly Joo Se Hyuk; FH: Butterfly Tenergy 05 1.9mm; BH:Giant Dragon Meteorite 0.5mm
III. Tibhar Stratus Power Wood; FH: Butterfly Tenergy 05 2.1mm; BH: Victas V > 01 Stiff 2.0mm

I have 2 of the liu shiwen blades -- didn't seem very lady-like to me! Only thing is the handle feels somewhat thinner than others. Not overly small, but smaller than some.

The blade is thin, fairly flexy, and soft with a good spinning ability. Slower in comparison to other popular blades such as viscaria.

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

I just looked at both blades on megaspin and they show more differences. The LSW blade is 158 x 152, the IF layer zlf is bty standard 157 x 150. The IF is also listed as a hair thinner, and offered in st an and fl. The LSW is only fl. All of those things would push me to the IF ZLF, if those two are the choices. I'm too klutzy to play with blades that cost more than $30, but I did have an old model IF ZLF briefly, and it was nice.

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Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.

Yoko Ono

Now, the big questions. Does she actually play with one? AND is it a stock one? How many did she go through before selecting a few for her own use?

Iskandar

You are probably looking at the old model which only had FL. The new version has all 3 handle types and is very slightly different from the old version in charasteristics and has a different front design.

New version: https://shop.butterflyonline.com/liu-sh ... lade-7806p
Old version: http://www.tabletennisdb.com/blade/butt ... hiwen.html

It is very alike to the IF ZLF it is true but not quite the same. My only concern is whether ST or FL, most chinese pros prefer FL, but I think it is also possible to perform with ST, but I do not really know any decent players who used ST who are relevant today.

I have the old model but with a straight handle. Until I see any differences in the new one, I'm going to assume it's a straight re-brand -- or close enough to be called the same!

Many players use straight handles - Timo, Dima etc

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...