OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hey all, kinda ordered this blade to try it out, and although I'm a combi player I like both my blade sides at the same speed.

I didn't expect there to be a noticeable difference in the speed category. I tested the blade out with some All-around Chinese rubber (Gambler Zero) and there was a noticeable difference between backhand and forehand but still very controllable.

I have a buddy at club that I casually coach and have been looking for the right set up for him for about 3 years now. He's a lefty and plays Seemiller grip, big flat backhand and a little lacking in forehand technique. So I put Gambler's Mech Tek Predator 1.5mm sponge on the blade's offensive side and Gambler GXS short pips 1.5mm sponge on the slower, defensive side.

Everyone is coming back from lockdown and a little rusty, but my student went through everyone at his level (around 1200) relatively easily, also took a game from some of us top dogs (1800+).

Sold at www.zeropong.com

I always enjoy reviewing a newer blade even if it's not for my own personal use.

I like how the b/h is light coloured wood ,wonder if the blade is made with ox lp in mind,although would prefer Limba to Koto for chopping.

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Tsp Black Balsa 3.0 Tenergy 05 1.9 388d ox black

I have the blade and have LP in OX on the BH and mech tek w otoro sponge in max on FH. Kind of a typical balsa feel. I am not sure how I feel about it as the FH side seems more suited to hitting rather that spinning and I am trying to spin more these days. BH is not super slow. Still need more time with it.

Yes, you are correct, this is not a defensive blade because it has a compact head size targeted towards attacking player market with more hitting from carbon side & more looping from non carbon side

Defensive player market is very small and most manufacturers know this. If manufacturers give a damn about defensive players, they would make such a blade available at least in large (170mm x 170mm) if not the super-large (185mm x 185mm) sizes with rubbers available for such head sizes. I have already asked every manufacturer for such blade & rubber & they kind of politely told me to get lost lost as I am not a professional player. It is not worth their manufacturing time to do different tooling for such blade or rubber sizes. But if a professional player asked for it, it would be ready in 10 minutes.

Look at the moronic defensive designs by Butterfly or any other manufacturer. In the name of God, why would you put a composite layer right before the supposedly defensive side of a defensive blade, just as the offensive side. Yet Butterfly etc always do it over and over but it does not make sense even from a professional chopper standpoint, because how often do you see Joo Sehyuk or Chen Weixing or Ruwen Filus or Gionis Panagiotis attack in their matches against other pro players ? (Very rarely) . And if they indeed want to attack, they could just as easily adjust & adapt to a different layer composition on backhand. Yet Butterfly etc continue to make moronic blades for defenders as if defenders already don't have enough ITTF imposed technical problems & mental problems of lack of self-esteem.

Ideal defender design would be
1. a large or super-large blade with composite layer
2. but ONLY on the attacking side (with carbon & dense wood outer layer for more of a hitting rather looping style player or a softer composite layer such as carbo-kev or ALC with a soft outer layer for looping style player),
3. and no carbon on defensive side (slower outer-most layer with high dwell-time to maximize back-spin)

But the trick & challenge is isolating the stiffening effect of offensive side composite layer from seeping into the defensive side and this probably needs a thicker balsa medial (central) ply.

But no such commerical product exists because the market is very small.
If you look at Butterfly Matsushita & Joo Sehyuk blades they are more of an all around design most especially on backhand because once you add a composite layer close to defensive side of the blade, it just is no longer a defensive blade but is at best an all around blade. But since defensive player market is so small , Butterfly targets small defensive plus larger defensive players fantasizing to be all around players.

And I would be very surprised (more like shocked) if the specific customized blade secretly used by Matsushita or Joo Sehyuk etc in tournaments (with stampings & logo that says same as commercial blades) was (is) the same Butterfly blade used by any amateur player. This applies to most top professional players.

In fact any blade with same composition of layers on backhand and forehand is a totally moronic design because probably at least 75% (more like 90%) of humans have different forehand & backhand playing styles. But since most amateurs live in a fantasy world that they are Ma Long or Waldner who can do it all equally from forehand or backhand, manufacturers just prey on this psychosis.

This is what actually distinguishes the sponge domain from hardbat domain, the ability to enhance your distinct playing style of your forehand compared to backhand but after 70+ years we are still in primitive stages of sponge domain evolution (or booster domain devolution, if wish LOL)

Iskandar

I hadn't been to Zeropong/Gambler for a while, this is the second blade on their blade page so it's probably fairly new:

https://www.zeropong.com/gambler-shakeh ... ight-p-530



USD40 - pretty good value for money, in any case.

Iskandar