OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Zuang Zedong it was indeed. In his training video there is a clear emphasis on short strokes close to the table with very short racket head acceleration.

That reminds me of Kees' analysis of Gao Jun viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5311&hilit=gao%2Ajun+kees .
I also see it when I single-frame Deng Yaping's backhand (that big follow-through happens long after the ball is gone).

OK, now how do we attack/strategically play those pips out hitters? Or the BH short pip hitter blockers?

Be as fast with the inverted stroke as they are with their pips, and produce massive topspin at the same time, while being so fast on your feet that it becomes hard or impossible to pin you down with balls to your transition point. This way you will be able to reduce the pips play to blocking, which should give you the advantage.
For defenders: play low, massive backspin and forever keep up surprise attack - variation is the key, not in spin primarily, but in pace and tactics.

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Without opponent, no match.

Kees,

Wonderful and insightful article. It really helped me re-think the way I perform my strokes.

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TSP Spectol Soft - 2.1 mm - FH
TSP Spectol 21 - 2.1 mm - BH
Stiga Clipper CR WRB
--------------and--------------------
TSP Spinpips 21 - 2.0 mm - FH
TSP Spectol 21 - 2.1 mm - BH
BBC 9-10-9

You're welcome. I was wondering how you are doing, actually. You must still be one of the very few two-winged SP players on the forum. I myself am on a time-out of at least half a year, more likely one, due to injury, but I still like to keep tabs on how things are going with this style.

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Without opponent, no match.

Nice one Kees - just revisiting all your sp posts... an excellent resource

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Yasaka Dynamix 17
Tibhar Q 50
Butterfly Raystorm

Kees

Thank you for your excellent article. I can tell you that my favourite player of all times is Wang Tao. I saw him play live a few times. I also dig his other strokes. Especially the pendel like forehand. With a combination of loop and smash. The kind of forehand opponents block towards the ceiling. I thought i was the only short pips fan in the world. I am also a huge fan of He zhi wen. His feeling is not far behind Waldner if you ask me. I play short pips on my backhand. Great technique input in your article. So i shall try to improve. I have a brand new racket on the way. Accordind to what you wrote it might be too fast. Stiga Ebenholz VII with Spectol speed max on BH. But the bat nneds to be fast as i am playing chinese rubber on my FH. Think i will go for Haifu Blue whale National on FH. I think i will watch He zhi wen on youtube while i wait for a reply

Henning

Spectol is a great backhand pip. Maybe max will prove a bit too thick, but if you have the technique it can't hurt. And you'll know it soon enough if it is too fast - you will lack control. A good and spinny forehand rubber will help, but if you want to play like Wang Tao, don't go for very soft sponge; a bit softer than medium will be better if you want to be able to hit with topspin as he did. He liked soft sponge, but "soft" in his day was what is about "medium" now.

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Without opponent, no match.

Hey

The new Spectol with Speed Sponge is what i am gonna use. According to some forums. It should be the best of the three. The sponge should be an answer to not being able to speedglue. I just have to try it. I am not hoping o play like Tao. But one can always punch in a great bh now and then. i played backside rubbers when i was a kid, but switched to pips later on. I like the variation possibilities it gives.

Henning

This is such a great thread.

So Kees or anybody, if you were building the ultimate shakehand bat for double pips-out style what would it be?

Also, if you were building the ultimate light weight shakehand bat for double pips-out style what would it be?

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That's a tricky one as so much depends on individual taste and ability... Perhaps the ultimate lightweight bat would be a Re-Impact Barath with 1.5 mm Friendship 802 or (slightly faster and spinnier) Tuttle Summer 3C on either side. That would a blast in every sense of te word. A cheap alternative would be Galaxy T11 with Friendship 802-40 2.0 mm or Tuttle Summer 3C 2.0 mm on either side.
A cheap, less light-weight one would be Tulpe 7007 (you would perhaps like to make sure to get one of the blades around 80 grs, as some of them are heavier) or Globe 782 or Friendship Red Spirit (these two don't come with straight handles, but are very good with SP) with Friendship 802-40 or Tuttle Summer 3C 2.0 mm either side.
More expensively, I would go for an Avalox 7 ply, or Stiga Clipper, or even cheap clones of those blades, again with 802-40. And again, a slightly faster alternative (and slightly more light-weight) to 802-40 would be Tuttle Summer 3C, which is a kind of upgrade to 802-40.
But these are "classic" combinations, for very fast and precise play without much disruption. For women, who may have more difficulty with making speed and who therefore might be better off with more disruption, and also for "elderly" players or players with limited footwork, I would recommend a forehand with 1.9 mm Friendship Legend 105, and backhand 1.7 mm Legend 105 or 1.8 mm Friendship 799 Mystery or Friendship 802-1 1.8 mm (the best for just blocking). I guess the T11 would be too hard for these rubbers. They would probably go well with Sword V8 (around 80 grs) or the faster Sword Final Strike (75 grs). The Tulpe 7007 with a straight handle might be a bit too big for female hands.
If I had more money to spend, I might go for an all-TSP set-up. A Black Balsa 7.0 or a Phoenix Fire OFF (both about 80 grs) with ordinary Spectol, porbably not in max but in 1.8 mm on either side.

There is also a very interesting SP by Spinlord, the Waran, which is extremely fast and less spinny than 802-40, but spinnier than classic SP. I am not sure how well it keeps, though, as it comes with extreme factory tuning. Personally, I don't like factory tuned SPs, think they lack control and they change rather rapidly with time. My favourite is 802, closely followed by 802-1 for blocking and hitting on softer blades, 802-40 on harder blades, and Legend 105 for disruptive attack on OFF blades and for LP/SP modern defense on DEF or ALL blades.
I know a lot of players look down on Chinese SPs, especially on classic ones like 802 or Globe 889, but this is really rather short-sighted. They should watch He Zhiwen for about a minute to get convinced of the fact that 802 is at least as good as any modern expensive SP, has been that for over 30 years and will be that for another 30... It should also convince them that there is need whatsoever to buy expensive blades, as He has used the same, simplest of Chinese club blades for 30 years or more. Never changed it. With this style, it comes down to technique and clever tactics, and equipment is very much a secondary thing - unless of course you need (physical) compensation of certain kinds.

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Without opponent, no match.

Actually I played this style from when I started playing again last summer until autumn this year, when I went with my instincts to defend. However my brother plays this style, and I shared your article with him, and gave him my 2 winged SP OFF+ bat. He's doing very well!

But yes - yet another wonderful article. Thank you so much for all you bring to the forum - you're a mine of information and experience.

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

Hi Kees,

Thanks for your response. Wow! I'm surprised you picked a thick balsa blade as your ultimate pips-out set up. I've been resisting this blade, but maybe I'll have to get one. This is just the normal Barath blade we're talking about? Not one of his eight zillion variations? lol

Do you think Legend 105 rubbers would work on the Barath also? Those rubbers sound interesting and I like disruption.

I have a RE-Impact Taipan blade. Do you think that would be good? I currently have Milky Way Pluto 1.3 on the backhand, but I have a couple of 1.5mm 802s I could put on it.

I also have a Sardius blade, which is supposed to be good for short pips, but after many years of playing with OX on one side, I don't like heavy blades.

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

Coincidentally, There were a couple of He Zhiwen games posted on YouTube today and I noticed he was using BLACK PIPS, which I don't recall him ever using before. So I wonder if He finally switched to another rubber?

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics