The Chopping Blades of Chopper Stars
Reviewing the blades of past chopper stars, you see the words “heritage” written all over. Classics never go out of date; new models are just slight tweaks of old ones.
1
Ding Song, DHS 08B. Once a chopping magician. At the 1995 Tianjin Worlds men’s team final, as the third singles, he beat Karlsson, helping the national team defeat Sweden, hailed as the “secret weapon.” This seven-ply basswood 08B is an improved version of the classic 08. Faithful, linear feel, and very loop-resistant.
2
Hou Yingchao, DHS 08B. As late as the 2019 National Championships, the elder streamer Hou Yingchao beat Liang Jingkun and Wang Chuqin in a row to win men’s singles, letting us revisit this blade (Hou’s backhand was TSP SPECTOL short pips). One word describes this basswood blade’s nature: deliberate. The basswood structure, once a fast-attack god-blade, developed into a steady chopping blade. Saviga also made a same-structure custom for Hou Yingchao, all weighing 110-120g. Here we can roughly see their weight preference.
3
Ma Te, Liu Fei, DHS 08X custom. At the 2021 Olympic simulation event, the double-chop pair won mixed doubles, and the 08 series re-entered our view. Unlike the seven-ply all-wood 08B, the 08X added two layers of fancy carbon felt, strengthening rebound and aggressiveness, with better counterattack while chopping. At this time, Liu Fei used long pips P1V — fine, long pips, with strong spin variation. Ma Te used P4V (thickness sometimes 0.5, sometimes 1.0), with more precise placement, able to chop more steadily.
4
Yang Yiyun, Yinhe 980 ULTRA. Speaking of domestic chopping blades, Yinhe had the 980 and 980XX, both five-ply all-wood. The young national player Yang Yiyun now uses this 980 ULTRA, a new product — a five-wood, two-layer inner red-aramid-fiber blade. And her backhand P4V thickness, I asked, is 1.0mm.
5
Joo Sae-hyuk, Butterfly custom. His most famous bat is a five-ply all-wood with a rosewood face ply and ayous core, the inner three plies of close thickness. This differs from Butterfly’s retail Joo Sae-hyuk, which is a five-ply highlighting core thickness.
6
Seo Hyo-won, Butterfly custom. The blade is likewise a custom Diode. The first-generation Diode had its inner three plies of nearly equal thickness, loop-resistant, with good defense. Deeply influenced by Joo Sae-hyuk, Seo Hyo-won once had the same rubbers as Joo — forehand T64, backhand TSP Curl P-1R. Later the forehand changed to T05, D05, D09c.
7
Chen Weixing, Butterfly Defence II. Before writing this article, I was just chatting with Chen Weixing’s national-team senior about short-pips sinking. Then I wrote about him. This is a hard, non-springy steady-chopping blade. But more famous than this is the Joola Chen Weixing, though it is actually not easy to play. The Joola Chen Weixing, with two inner layers of Black Cloth material and a kiri core, has fairly fast close-table counterattack and hitting. For backing-off counter-loops, the bottom power is mediocre. As for chopping, just so-so.
8
Han Ying, Victas Koji Matsushita (brown pine). In his playing days, Koji Matsushita was famous. Now famous are the Koji Matsushita series blades. Among chopping blades, the blue pine is on the thick and hard side, becoming Wu Yang’s and Han Ying’s main blade. In the plastic ball era, even a chopping blade is better a bit harder. Later, Han Ying switched to the brown pine. On rubber, I asked Han Ying — orange-sponge national Hurricane 3 on the forehand pairs more steadily. Backhand Spectol S3, smaller pips than S1, with a bit more variation.
9
Gionis, Korbel custom. Not much to say here. A Korbel with an enlarged face. Many chopping blades, to increase the striking area and ball-grip, are made with larger faces.
10
Masaki Aida, Yasaka Zhengzong (Shoubu). A very flashy, dashing chopper, with quite a high level of switching to attack while chopping. The Zhengzong is a three-ply hinoki, 7.2mm thick. Other choppers use long pips or short pips on the backhand; Masaki Aida differs — inverted rubber on both sides. Before it was backhand Xianglong, forehand Rakza 7. Later it was R7 on both sides, reportedly a bit more powerful. Now the rubber seems to have changed again, pending update.