OOAK Table Tennis Forum

With the popularity of chopping with short pips, I was curious if anyone chops with short pips on both sides of the racket. With the advent of several types of spinny pips, in theory I would think there would be some success chopping with pips on both sides. Good opportunities for spin variation and good ability to attack, but I have never heard of this set-up. Anyone know of such a thing? Is it worth exploring?

Anything is possible. But for many this is not ideal. Usually more variety if using different rubbers on either side.

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See Ann ying.top défensive player now. Play with spectol on bh. She chop lower nearer to the Flor with mode horizontal mouvement as the pips grip more the hall ans Côme back Higher against top spin ball.She can vary the chop mode vertically for a fast no spin hall . The variation Is mode effective Than lp. You have to.choose your type of Play as if you Play for défense IT Ils mode difficult to Do block or counter Near the table then. This Is my main problem: what Is my type of Play I Want to.playl?

Yes, but I don't think she has pips out on her forehand - that is what I am curious about. Anyone who chops with spinny pips on the forehand?

Yes but not for 99.9% of players


Very true except the small % who are TRULY capable of being 2 wing loopers (not those who "irrationally believe" they can) using spinny inverted rubbers


200% correct
One needs to understand the concept of spin continuum of various rubbers types in table tennis & the need to create maximum spin contrast between the rubber on the forehand & the backhand unless you are TRULY a two winged looper.

First of all short pips is not a weakside (usually backhand for most humans in any racket sport) rubber. You can trash me all you want with nonsensical examples of Mima Ito , Hou Yingchau, Han Ying etc but NO I am absolutely positive about short pips (or anti) not being a functionally valid weakside rubber. And absolutely NO, short pips is especilly NOT a chopping rubber. What works for a pro does not mean in any way that it would remotely work for low level players . Also most of these players are succeeding DESPITE using wrong rubbers & baldes. Simply because a pro is very successful implies in no way that thet are playing upto their full potential. Mima Ito is teh saddest example of this but at leats she is still young & can correct course.
Chickens (short pips) can fly a little, doves (medium pips) can fly a little higher and bar-headed geese (LARC long pips) can fly much higher but Ruppell’s vulture (High Aspect Ratio Super Long Pips) can soar the highest

That said, super long pips is the ONE & ONLY functionally valid weakside runner in the 40+ plastic ball ONLY era, unless you are TRULY a two winged looper.
So this brings us to the choice of strongside (usually rubber) rubber. If you play away from the table the only choice is usually spinny inverted rubber if you are a modern defender. This is because spinny inverted sits on the top spin side of the spin continuum & super long pips sit on the very opposite end of the spin continuum, the backspin side & this provides the maximum possible spin contrast for a modern defender. (The short pips sits sort of in the dead center of the spin continuum & anti as well but a little bit towards the top spin end & therefore do not provide maximum spin contrast for a loop and chop type modern defender)
If you play close to the table and are capable of playing the flat hitting style, then you can use short pips. But how many players even among top pros other than Mattias Falck are currently forehand short pips players ? I know there had been many world champions or very high level penhold players like He Zhiwen in the past. But unless you grew up with this style from your very youth like in China this is a very rare style & I have seen many lower level such players & almost all of them were Chinese. Yeah I am well aware of Johnny Huang but he is the rarest of rare exceptions
But there are cases where a player may need to use short pips on strongside (forehand). This applies to mostly older players who cannot loop or never learned to loop in their youth or can no longer loop due to aging or others due to other physical limitations. There may also be a few who are better off using anti rubbers.
However short pips with sponge forehand & frictionless type OX super long pips backhand is definitely the best close to the blocking style play if you can pull it off . Personally I have actually been trying to play this style more & more recently preparing for real old age of having to play close. But the most interesting thing about this is that if I chop superheavy on my backhand with super long pips & then chop on my forehand with short pips, I get so little backspin from my forehand short pips compared to my backhand super long pips that this really throws off loopers. I also (try but not with great success) twiddle and chop with super long pips on forehand & short pips on backhand this is even more effective than if I chop with super long pips on backhand & spinny inverted on my forehand. The spin contrast (super backspin & very ow backspin) is the maximum using a short pips & super long pips combo racket than a spinny inverted & super long pips combo racket but this is not a practical racket for most players I also enjoy the super fast flat kills using short pips with thick sponge forehand.
I have been looking for a frictionless type short pips for my forehand which will maximize the spin contrast against the frictionful chopping type super long pips on my backhand. But I can find neither

what about combining spinny short pips with no spinny ones? you would also have a stark contrast in the combo ,right? If I recall right, Pistol or Termintor from the doc had poor spin capabilities .

Just a suggestion,I do not think SPs are ideal for chopping .

Seemingly a clever & good question.
But the answer is NO

To answer your question one needs to understand
1. the chronological order of arrival of various rubber types upon the table tennis scene
2. underlying operational mechanics of various rubber types
3. how the manufacturers exploit the lack of understanding of items 1 & 2
I won’t get into details here on these at the moment but are available elsewhere
Let me just say that on the spin continuum the so called spinny short pips are not too far away from (currently mostly unavailable) frictionless short pips.
Every rubber in table tennis has a specific “primary” purpose. Anything outside that perimeter is just a marketing gimmick. The primary purpose of any short pips is for flat hitting & not for chopping or looping. Yes Liu Guoliang used short pips on forehand and kind of looped but keep in mind that ITTF promptly stepped in and punished him by passing the pip density reduction regulation of 2004 , which reduced both the top spin as well as back spin capabilities of short pips primarily but also significantly reduced the back spin capabilities of long pips.
Last but not the least, don’t forget the most important fact , all frictionless (long) pips were also banned in 2008 . So what this means is the frictionless long pips have been moved much closer to so called spinny short pips due to
1. Pip density reduction regulation of 2004
2. Frictionless pips ban of 2008


You are correct . Short pips is not a chopping rubber on the weakside (usually backhand) absolutely for sure especially for an amateur who is delusional & seriously thinks they can be as good as Han Ying or Hou Yingchau or Ding Song by just simply choosing to use short pips (as manufacturers want you to believe & ITTF wants you to believe to reduce the long pips nuisance in the sport)
I was giving a hypothetical scenario I was experimenting with , where I am using a non existent unapproved frictionless short pips on my forehand combined with currently unapproved super long pips on the weakside (usually weakside for most)