Why Decathlon's Table Tennis Shoes Keep Surprising Us
At last July’s US Smash we noticed an unlikely Decathlon table tennis shoe on Ying Han’s feet as she reached the women’s singles round of 16 in a stacked field.
Having torn both Achilles tendons by 2024 and come back from rehab, Han is demanding about her shoes — and from that US Smash through this March’s Chongqing Champions event she has stayed loyal to the Decathlon TTS 900. It satisfies what a high-volume, high-mileage chopper wants in a dream shoe: hard-wearing, durable, with enough support, and still nimble to run in. Several friends who bought a pair told me the grip and footing really do feel secure.
This year I tried another Decathlon shoe: the 560 dial version. It surprised me in a different way. Dials used to appear only in running shoes, then in the high-end flagship table tennis models — but over the last two or three years they’ve sprouted up even in inexpensive shoes. This 560 dial version (also called the “Comfort 560”) is, so far, my favorite dial shoe under 300 yuan (299.9). I even like it more than a certain Mizuno BOA shoe, because that dial wasn’t durable.
So what makes the Comfort 560 appealing?
A dial — and a reliable one. Some brands’ dial systems aren’t trustworthy: tighten them before play and they loosen as you go. The Decathlon 560 dial, by contrast, feels premium and secure as you turn it to adjust the fit.
Sensible design — breathable and durable. The ventilation holes are well placed, the PU-and-mesh combination is reasonable, and the toe and heel are well reinforced for durability.
Grip, start and anti-slip. Overall it’s a barefoot-leaning, nimble shoe, well suited to first-three-balls attackers: the non-marking rubber outsole with suction-cup texture grips well and starts quickly. There’s a striped pattern on the outer forefoot and inner heel that keeps you stable on sudden stops and starts, plus an anti-slip block on the front side of the shoe (a touch Asics likes on its high-end shoes) that adds friction on lateral or change-of-direction moves while letting you feel the floor to adjust your footwork. And it’s genuinely light: a single shoe (size 42) is 248g, the standard for the lightweight class. The Decathlon 560 dial version really raises the bar for dial table tennis shoes again — its performance lives up to its name: comfort.