OOAK Table Tennis Forum

The Stiga Defensive Pro is a 5+2 layer blade, lightweight (74 grams), rather stiff, defensive blade with carbon. It has been more than 3 years since I last used defensive blades. I have sealed mine, with a slightly thicker layer on BH side.
https://www.stigatabletennis.com/tt_eu/ ... nnis-blade

Yesterday I tried this blade for the first time. I have only used it for 2 hours so I may change a few conlusions later. My main blade for the moment (if I don't change to this one) is Stiga Carbonado 90, a OFF-blade with thin carbon layers and a very low throw. I am playing a push-blocking style with slick anti on BH and Xiom Omega VII Euro on FH. I used to play modern defensive style, but changed 3,5 yeras ago.

The Def pro has several gears. What is so cool abouit this blade is that the throw angle seem to change a lot with what force you put behind. So when I block with my anti the ball goes very flat and straight with a low angle. And when I put some force behind my FH stroke there is a lot of arc. The throw in those strokes is clearly higher than with my Carbonado 90 blade (I used the same rubber). When blocking FH or BH with inverted I felt that the throw was very low and nice, about the same as the Carbonado blade.

This change in gear made it a little tricky when looping against back spin, I had some troubles getting the right amount of speed and spin but I think I will get used to it. The blade is about 15 grams lighter than the Carbonado so I also had some timing issues in those strokes.

I also tried loop vs loop, an area where it can be tricky with def-blades and managing the higher throw that usually comes with such a blade (I never got used to loop vs loop with my Koji Matsuhita blade, especially not with VS 401 on it). With this blade it was no problem at all. Of course there is not the same power and speed as with Carbonado 90 but still ok and the blade felt very solid on high impact.

For an opening loop to be leathal with this blade, will take a lot of power and good technique. There is a little flex but not so much it will help you with the speed. So be prepared for a slower more spinny first loop and than go in and counter/smash the next one. Here the blade works better (still a defensive blade though).


Serving was very good, easy to generate spin, althoug not as good as a soft Koji Matsushita. But cleraly better than my Carbonado.

Blocking is very safe with this blade, you can place the ball where you want both in depth and to the sides. You may need to meet the ball with a little speed and guide it back.

Blocking with anti worked good as well although I did not do this a lot since I did not have a proper anti on BH (just a wrinkled and worn DMS Reflection in 1,5 mm, and that is way too slow for this blade). But I have high hopes for this area.

Where it really shined was in attacking back spin with anti, and that is where I win most of my points (either there or at my following attack). It was very easy to give the ball a good slap and keeping it low and fast, and very difficult for your opponent. This will be a lot better with a 0,9 mm Reflection (can't wait). Even returns with very little or no back spin was easy to attack this way, just add a wrist moment so it looks like you are making side spin on the ball.

I have not tried chopping with this blade yet.

I think this blade would be very good also for those who uses LP in ox, blocking and pushing and attacking back spin. The blades stiffnes enhances the spin reversal compared to other blades. The back spin in blocks with my anti was almost as good with this blade as with Carbonado 90 (and that blade is about the best there is in this aspect).

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

Last night I had my 2nd session, this time with a new anti in 0,9 mm. Blocking with anti is easy to keep short, low and place the where I want (in depth or to the sides). Spin reversal is a tad less than with Carbonado 90 and 1,2 mm Reflection but still sufficient.

I had some problems blocking, many went short/low, both with anti and inverted. But this is just a matter of getting used to the blade. When blocking with inverted on BH I had to be more active than with Carbonado or the ball went high and long. So blocking with inverted needs to be done by approaching the ball and guide it back, not just holding the bat still. Also, how tight my grip was mattered. A tight grip when blocking returns a faster ball while a loose grip helps absorb the speed - a lot.

This blade may not ve the best for looping, especially not against back spin. But hard hits are rewarded with an extra top gear. And smashing is surprisingly good with this blade. I often serve short back/side spin to get a push to my BH side. That ball I push very aggressively with anti (this stroke generates a very uncomfortable ball for most opponnets) towards opponents body, elbow or BH. Most opponents drives the ball back from where it came and if I am in good shape I step around and try to kill it with FH. With this blade the aggressive push is very good but also the following attack, if I go all in and smash. Even low balls are rather easy to smash as long as I don’t hesitate.

Also, it is great fun to have such a good control, also on FH side .

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

Great review!

Skickat från min EML-L29 via Tapatalk

First impressions in comparison to Diode V after 3 full training sessions. I'm giving the blade a try with the intension to get a slower and more controllable setup.
- very hard feeling
- very stiff, some flex on hard hits
- very slow
- very low throw
The first few shots have been a huge disappointment. Expecting a somewhat stiffer VKM, I found I could't create spin at all, neither when looping neither at chops, no consistency at all. The blade felt dead, slow, unplayable. This changed with the following sessions. Chopping, particularly with inverted, now is much easier than with Diode V, with plenty spin using H3. Looping has improved much, the unaccustomed flex still lets me miss on hard strokes. The topspin against underspin is - in contrast to Def-Attacks findings - not difficult, at least not more so than with Diode.

Btw: by "Slightly enlarged head in comparison to traditional blades" Stiga means actually a head size of 166x156 mm. The thickness of the blade is 5.23-5.28mm (measured at different spots of the blade's edge using a digital sliding caliper). The weight of my blade is 80g.

I'll post more in some weeks, when impressions have settled.

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- style: modern defense -

how is looping with this blade?

For me, not good. I could not get any spin or arc. But maybe it is more easy with soft tensor?

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

I have a question, is the stiga defensive pro good with ox long pips like grass d tecs?