OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi there. I've been playing TT at my club since the 90's using a combo racket with inverted and long pips. Recently I have become interested in hardbat play and I decided to try it. By the way I'm a 1600 player. Anyway, I just purchased a racket, I got the Tibhar Stratus Power Defense blade with the Yasaka rubber. Did I choose an acceptable blade do you think? I read that I should get a defensive blade for hard rubber use so I did. But, the one I chose is Def + , I got the + because I want my harder hitting to be fast enough but without losing control. I also read that a heavy blade is a good thing but I thought that would be harder to control during over the table defensive blocking where you need a lot of touch and control. I plan on playing over the table like that, and pick hitting. I'm just starting at this so, any advice will be much appreciated.

Which Yasaka rubber? There are several Yasaka hardbat rubbers

But yes, the setup should work fine

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SPW/Solo

I got Yasaka A1. Also I was a little frustrated today playing with it for the first time at our club. I played worse than I do with my combination paddle which has smooth rubber on one side and long pips on the other. With my long pips I could chop back loops easier and spinnier. And I could rip the ball better with my smooth rubber. But I'm not surprised, I know it takes time to learn something new. I just need to practice I suppose.

Your blade is a faster defensive blade and Yasaka A-1-2 is a tic faster than Butterfly Orthodox. Usually it takes 3 weeks or so to get the feel of it. I played inverted for decades and recently switched to hardbat ( Valor American Chopper, Valor Rubber) and found it was a bit faster than my old Hock. Your blade is perfectly fine just give it some time and you will get good muscle memory for your new strokes.