OOAK Table Tennis Forum

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"It is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you're attempting can't be done" - Terry Pratchett

Sorry can't agree with you on the "top 10 easily" part. Yes he did beat WCT who's currently in the top 20..but unfortunately just lost to Shibaev ...who's WR #65 and was recently right around the 80-100 mark.. So my estimate still stands.

Saw the short version of the Shibaev game just now. It seems to me he lost his level he played at the China National Championships. A lot of unforced errors (for a defender). Looking at the scores it was close, but he gave away a lead in two games if I recall correctly. It's decompression or a weaker mental game. But I stand he's top 10 material and quite easily at that. He's a Chinese player for a reason.

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There's always stuff to improve!

My blog on being a LP defender beyond 2000 USATT and the pips discrimination that comes along with that

Shibaev is extremely good vs defense. I had this pegged down as a loss for Ma Te when I saw the draw and believed that Ma Te had to be rooting for Pitchford vs Shibaev. I have watched Shibaev play Joo and Shiono and he won both comfortably.

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Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slc-P89STpI&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR3d3H-6-jPl7lDA1uXHHr9u7imjN9jy1hjmzQExdpTER-pfUSDL5kusuNw[/youtube]

can someone fix it? i can't

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Butterfly Defence II / TSP Curl P1r 0.5mm / Tibhar Evolution MX-P 2.2mm -187g

Fixed.

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There's always stuff to improve!

My blog on being a LP defender beyond 2000 USATT and the pips discrimination that comes along with that

I wouldn't say he's extremely good against defense. He's good against it: true, but not Xu Xin material.

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There's always stuff to improve!

My blog on being a LP defender beyond 2000 USATT and the pips discrimination that comes along with that

Czech Open 2019:

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There's always stuff to improve!

My blog on being a LP defender beyond 2000 USATT and the pips discrimination that comes along with that

IMHO players' world ranking isn't so important vs defence... as someone rightly noticed, WCT is clearly not good vs defence, while Shibaev has always been good, due to his nasty forehand (in a way similar to propopkov's... does someone remember him? ). It's as if, in a sense, defensive play is a different sport than "usual" TT.

And there's more: defensive players are all different, so there may be surprises, according to which strategy the attacking player uses against defence (power, consistency...)
For example Gionis has managed to beat Samsonov twice (samsonov who hasn't ever lost to Joo and even in his young age was able to beat guys like Ding Song, who easily toyed with veteran players ) probably because he has the best balance of consistency and counterlooping(?); Chen Weixing has been able to beat more than once a still youngish Primorac (who, tough aging, defeated, in their prime, Wang Xi, Joo, Shiono... using his consistent looping variation); and what about Kim Minseok? Defense killer FH, but he really risked vs Shiono in world tour grand finals some years ago (he went ahead, but lost focus and the match went to 7 set).
What i mean is: it's normal that Ma easily defeats some high level player and looses to seemingly weaker players

About Ma Te, i think he is able to face and beat powerful chinese opponents (who can crush european defenders like Gionis and Filus), and that is what makes him the strongest at the moment. But he is quite passive and so he can struggle against more allround/consistent players (you may disagree with me, since he attack also with bh and has powerful forehand... but if you look carefully, he rarely takes the initiative, he always creates the opportunity with his variation in defence and his pips at the table, so if the opponent is consistent he can struggle to attack). Also, since he relies so much on his consistency, if he is not at his 100% he can begin giving away some points, a fact that gives an enormous confidence boost to the attacker who no longer feels forced to overhit and so gives away less points and makes the match much harder for MA.
His loss against Shibaev wasn't much of a surprise to me... against Aruna it was more unexpected, but the nigerian was on fire recently (and he showed it again in the next matches...) and when matches turn into long fights they can go either way, and Aruna is an amazing fighter

The best thing is Ma Te is still young, he can improve and i don't see any chinese LP defender near his level, so probably he will be the main defensive sparring in CNT for years, and that prabalby means he will also be the best defender in the world for years
Another good factor is that young players around the world are not used to play vs defence a lot anymore... so, if he's lucky to meet them, i think he can "cut many heads" I'm pointing at guys like Harimoto, Lin, Calderano...
He also has great mind-set/confidence... he wins most 7th sets and makek many comebacks

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My Paddle
Blade: Butterfly Defence III ST
FH: Baracuda 2.0 (red)
BH: Curl p1-r 1.5 (black)

For me, Ma Te needs to work on his offense, both switching from defense to offense better and just being better at attacking. I like his backhand attack when he twiddles. Quite dangerous for opponent, but misses the table a lot. This greatly reduces its effectiveness. His forehand attack lacks both power and consistency, which is a big problem. For me, I really believe he can reach top 10 level, but he needs to improve these areas.

His defense is brilliant and shows long pips still have a place in the current game. Yea, Hou Yingchau can force more errors witghs short pips, and it may be the overall way to go now with plastic ball, but even when Ma Te is losing, I see it as more of him not opening up with his attack well enough. I dont see any problems with his defense. He gets a lot of balls back, bar the odd bad performance, and gets it back with variety and sometimes crazy backspin. He's great to watch.

Maybe one more thing actually. One thing I really liked about Joo was his ability to go through gears in tough matches. He might lose easily in the first game but he finds a way to go up a gear, becoming more aggressive on forehand wing and seems to dig even harder with backhand chop. There's a match with Samsonov from years back thst perfectly highlights this. He lost the match, but it was super close and Joo found a way to decide the outcome of the match on his racket as much as Samsonov's. I don't see thst with Ma Te. His level throughout matches is rather flat. Want to see that champion, dig deeper, fight harder like mentality in him.

Sent from my F5122 using Tapatalk

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Standard Setup 1
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P1r 1.5mm

Standard Setup 2
Blade - Joo Sae-Hyuk ST
FH - DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 2.2mm
BH - TSP Curl P4 1.5mm

Hardbat Equipment (Former Full-Time Hardbat Player)
Blade - Marty Reisman custom 5 ply Hock
Rubber - Yasaka Cobalt Alpha OX

Not sure if this has been posted before. There are some texts in the beginning, can someone translate (if it is of any interest):
https://youtu.be/mOA526J1bUQ

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Getting better - health and game | Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack

Forgive me for not combing through all 27 pages, but did we ever find out what equipment he's using?

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I think the best guess is Palio CKxxxx (LP) with some sponge. And Victas blade. Not sure about FH rubber, but who really cares .

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Getting better - health and game | Def-attack's attempts to find balance between defence/attack

Isn't it obvious? If I mindlessly copy his setup I'll be able to play just like him!

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Another angle of this match (partially)