OOAK Table Tennis Forum

In that video, not what you said it was.

Perhaps he's a real EJ, and changes equipment often. He should fit right in here, if he is.

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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

A recent (yesterday!) picture of Sharad in doubles (in front) from the TTSA Facebook page:

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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

Hmmm. Looks like he's still using the Maze blade.

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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

To be honest, I'm a little surprised he uses that blade... I thought he'd use something more rigid.

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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

Alex, I note your kind offer to pass on questions.

Could you ask Sharad

1) how did he learn SP technique? Was he coached by a SP expert or did he figure it out himself?

2) could he please explain the technique of SP pushing (against topspin, backspin and dead balls), how he gets his pushes to be so fast and aggressive, and what are the keys to effective SP pushing to not allow a strong attack.

Thanks!
PK

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Blade: TSP Black Balsa 7.0 flared; FH Rubber - Donic Acuda S3 max sponge; BH Rubber - Speed Spectol 1.8mm

I had a good chat with Sharad about short pimple play yesterday, after he beat me in our pennant game.

As I'm sure some of you wanted confirmed, he still uses a Butterfly M. Maze blade, with Xiom Zava red or forehand and Spectol blk on backhand. I forgot to ask the thickness, but I'm pretty sure he's told me before he uses max, and it did look quite thick.

I asked him about the types of balls that short pimple players have trouble with. Although he may have interpreted the question as "how do you beat you? ", that wasn't actually my intent, and he was more than happy to answer anything I wanted to know.

I'll post a few tips here shortly as I refresh my memory.

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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 uses Xiom Zava on his forehand, and he gets very good spin on his serves. Against deep backspin serves he tends to roll them back, creating a low and low-spin ball, which he places well and is hard to attack. Anything short he can flick back or place them so well it's again hard to attack. Any fast topspin attacks he blocks back with easy. Slow, deep and heavy topspin or backspin he says is harder to attack, so that's a good strategy against short pimple players. He said he much prefers pace to spin, and any loose balls only slightly high he can crack for winners, and it looks almost effortlessly!

On the backhand, where he uses Spectol, the situation is actually quite similar. However the lower grip of the Spectol makes it hard to lift backspin, so it's more susceptible to mistake when serving short heavy backspin. Deep backspin balls are hard to attack, so that's one way to setup for a attack. Anything topspin is just blocked so consistently and well places, that you need much better foot work to attack.

No-spin balls did not seem that much of a problem for him, as he tended to roll them back consistently, but were not attacked, so I assume they're harder for a short pimple player to attack.

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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

When I played him at the Vic Open Vets I thought he said he was using Spectol both sides. Perhaps I misheard him or perhaps he changed the fh. I subsequently play him in the Sth Australian Open Vets and didnt asked what he used then.

How is Pandit doing with the 40+ ball?

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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

Six years later...

Any idea what equipment he's using these days?

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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

I'd be keen to know too since I've been bouncing between 7 ply and ALC myself

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(\__/)
(='.'=) But there's no sense crying over every mistake,
(")_(") You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.

I'll ask him when i see him... have not seen him since covid started.

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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 played him once in the vets maybe 10 years ago.

He is good,real good.

He plays at a moderate pace then suddenly goes in with a big forehand flat drive.

Keep high,easy balls well away from his forehand.

Not quite so good when faced with a heavy top spn to his backhand but easier said than done.

He had half a dozen bats in his bag from memory including Joola Ultra Express which is super fast.

I am experimenting with TSP Spinpips black in i think 1.5 with a TSP Versal blade.

Hurricane 3 red 39 degrees boosted on my backhand.

So easy to use the Spinpips on my forehand - almost feels like using inverted.

Only a week into the experiment but I kinda know I am going to stay with this setup for a very long time.

Short pips reduce the pace of your opponents play as you do get some reversal especially if you lift the ball with a shallow angle on your loops. Flat drives are hard to return as your opponent will likely return many into the net.