Talking More Penhold Details, From Wang Hao, Xu Xin and Ryu Seung-min
Top penhold players are very few now. Felix, Qiu Dang, Wong Chun Ting and Xue Fei are the rare active penhold players appearing on our gear charts. Today, with table tennis speed ever rising and the proportion of topspin rallies greatly increasing, shakehand has some natural advantages.
In the current penhold realm, Chinese penhold still has some influence, while Japanese penhold is nearly invisible among professionals. Due to rule changes and material changes, Japanese penhold’s attack-lacking backhand finds it ever harder to contend with shakehand.
The Bygone Glory Era of Penhold
At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Ryu Seung-min won men’s singles, becoming the swan song of Japanese penhold. In 2008, Chinese penhold’s Ma Lin won men’s singles at the Beijing Olympics. In the World Cup, Ma Lin won men’s singles four times. Wang Hao won it three times, in 2007, 2008 and 2010. Xu Xin won it once, in 2013. Although Wang Hao never won an Olympic singles title, he reached the final three straight times. That was the last brilliant decade of Chinese penhold.
On comparing Japanese and Chinese penhold, Seiko Iseki, 1988 Olympic men’s doubles champion and Lin Yun-Ju’s former coach, said: in some respects Japanese penhold has higher attacking power, but in overall ability, Chinese penhold is better. Now table tennis rules and styles have changed, from serve to third-ball attack. Now there are longer rallies. Rather than pursuing the absolute height of attacking power, today’s style emphasizes attack-defense balance more. Chinese penhold’s reverse side is easier to use; its attacking rhythm changes, defensive stability and over-the-table handling are all superior.
Actually, watching national players’ matches now makes it clear. Now you must emphasize attack-defense balance and two-wing balance more. Players like Xue Fei, with a good backhand but average forehand, or Xiang Peng, with a sharp forehand but average backhand attack, find it hard to go far. Playing this plastic ball, single-ball quality is not as high as before, at the amateur level too. Before, amateurs with good forehands more easily became experts, but now the young juniors all have good backhands too, with styles leaning toward both attack and defense, relatively balanced on both wings.
By the way, last time I missed a penhold handle thickness chart, from Tabletennis Kingdom; let me add the point here for reference.
Bat Weight and Thickness
Compared with Japanese penhold, Chinese penhold needs to attend to bat weight more. Not just the blade’s weight, but the bat’s overall weight including rubber. For beginner penhold players, note that the reverse-side rubber should be softer and thinner, to cut weight, so control is more nimble. As penhold backhand technique improves, the backhand can gradually raise thickness and hardness. But with inverted rubber on both sides, generally the bat should not be too thick — unless it is a single-side style, or the reverse side has pips. A thin blade more easily has ball-control flexibility. A thick blade is a bit faster in support and pace-borrowing rebound. This is a trade-off.
Grip and Gluing
Wang Hao’s and Felix’s front-side gluing is fully glued. This way, forehand-backhand transitions are smoother, suited to players with very good backhands. Players like Xu Xin and Wong Chun Ting use a different gluing, leaving some distance on the front. This way, the thumb is on the rubber and the index finger is wedged between the handle and rubber, giving some anti-slip effect. And relatively, handling over-the-table balls is more nimble.