Blade & Rubber suggestion/recommendation - starting over

[UpHill_Battle]

A long read , but please do so as I need help, suggestion and recommendation.

Hi. I played table tennis about 12-13yrs ago, but it was more of after hours past time - so very limited play.
I was intrigued to play since, now I'm pushing 40 still have very limited time to play, no main club I attend to ~ needless to say I am still a beginner, maybe intermediate. I understand the spin, serve, receive but not very good in reading serve spins yet - I sometimes give a chance ball.
My forehand is more of placement return and spin oriented, more on topspin less power. My BH is more of chop push/block but before stopping again I have good placement an chopblocks to it, and loop are better than my FH. Footwork well that needs some work as well. more so now that age and weight is a factor.

I had some bad decisions in buying blades and rubbers then sold them. I had some bad experience in the local scene hence I stopped. Last I played was start of Q4 last year 2024. Since then I have not played due to some personal difficulties. Prior to this I have sold every last rubber and blade I had last December and January.

With things better now I will be starting again in May.

I would need help, suggestion and recommendation - where should I start? Blade 5ply or 7ply or inner carbon for may age maybe. And rubbers of course. As of the sport and will be returning, I only have $60 for blade to spare - $60 in my country equivalent. So I will be listening in to your recommendations.

I am looking for blade that are not that heavy around 86g-90g (at the most if allwood). For rubbers same, something I can learn, something for my age, with and play competitively in local spots but also durable.

Appreciate your kind help.

 

[JJ Ng]

For your budget, Donic Persson Powerplay is a great 7-ply all wood with good speed and very good feeling too. It is an under-rated blade.

If you want inner carbon, I would recommend Tibhar Fortino Performance. It is a great blade as well! The regular price of $90 is over your budget but if you can put in a $300 order by combining your order with some stuff that your club mates want, then 30% off will bring the cost down to $60.

 

[UpHill_Battle]

For your budget, Donic Persson Powerplay is a great 7-ply all wood with good speed and very good feeling too. It is an under-rated blade.

If you want inner carbon, I would recommend Tibhar Fortino Performance. It is a great blade as well! The regular price of $90 is over your budget but if you can put in a $300 order by combining your order with some stuff that your club mates want, then 30% off will bring the cost down to $60.

I just checked the conversion, my actual budget for blade is $110 for an all-wood or inner carbon or whatever will be suggested.

Do you have any suggestion for rubbers as well?
Will it be possible for someone pushing 40 be able to play table tennis still? And will likely play not everyday but will get coaching of course - 1set or so depends on progress and cost.

 

[Tyce]

I just checked the conversion, my actual budget for blade is $110 for an all-wood or inner carbon or whatever will be suggested.

Do you have any suggestion for rubbers as well?
Will it be possible for someone pushing 40 be able to play table tennis still? And will likely play not everyday but will get coaching of course - 1set or so depends on progress and cost.

Absolutely. Don't expect miracles, but my teammate started at 41 and 3y later he's getting really solid. I get beaten by him often lately, and I have junior training background and all...

 

[mocker88]

If you still learn how to handle spin on serves and so I think you should use a rubber that isn't that spin sensitive like 729 - Aurora MAX, 729 - Focus III Snipe, Palio - AK47 Blue. And if you would like something a bit faster have a look at 729 - Presto Max Spin or Speed. But these are all very easy to play linear rubbers with good grip.

For a blade you could go with an offensive all wood blade like Sanwei - Parla, 729 - Dragon S2 or Yinhe - Uranus U-3. This will give you good feeling and sufficient speed.

 

[UpHill_Battle]

Absolutely. Don't expect miracles, but my teammate started at 41 and 3y later he's getting really solid. I get beaten by him often lately, and I have junior training background and all...

Well I am not expecting miracles, but at least decent enough to play in tournaments and have some wins.

Last I played , it was against actual intermediate or advance players..so it wa apparent that it'll be a joke.

Would you recommend any blade and rubbers for my age to start with? for blade itself $110 usd. Also will an all wood or inner carbon be helpful in my scenario?

 

[UpHill_Battle]

If you still learn how to handle spin on serves and so I think you should use a rubber that isn't that spin sensitive like 729 - Aurora MAX, 729 - Focus III Snipe, Palio - AK47 Blue. And if you would like something a bit faster have a look at 729 - Presto Max Spin or Speed. But these are all very easy to play linear rubbers with good grip.

For a blade you could go with an offensive all wood blade like Sanwei - Parla, 729 - Dragon S2 or Yinhe - Uranus U-3. This will give you good feeling and sufficient speed.

I was able to play before with less sensitive rubber - joola rhyzm p. IT was good on receiving in the backhand on spinny serves. For the serves before, I sometimes under estimate the amount of spin my opponent puts in. But since I am starting over, that skill likely is gone.

The aurora max, focus snipe and ak47 are your recommended FH and BH rubbers or just the bh?

For blades, I was not a fan of sanwei, I had one before the fextra 7 I did not like the quality as it chips easily even if it was sealed. I will try and check if they are any Uranus U-3 in my country. Better go with all wood still not inner carbon - correct?

Thanks

 

[Tyce]

Same said teammate is playing with Andro Treiber CI, Vega Europe on both sides. I don't have the impression he's been struggling with it and also not seeing he's hitting the limit.
He is a strong guy, but he also has a good push and touch game. We play in the lower regions of league, not bottom level but right on the edge where you start encountering people who are capable of rallying rather than making errors off basic spins.

As I said, he started about 3y ago, didn't win a single match in his first season. I was able to consistently beat him up to the end of last year but he's made a good leap training often in the off season.

 

[mocker88]

I was able to play before with less sensitive rubber - joola rhyzm p. IT was good on receiving in the backhand on spinny serves. For the serves before, I sometimes under estimate the amount of spin my opponent puts in. But since I am starting over, that skill likely is gone.

The aurora max, focus snipe and ak47 are your recommended FH and BH rubbers or just the bh?

For blades, I was not a fan of sanwei, I had one before the fextra 7 I did not like the quality as it chips easily even if it was sealed. I will try and check if they are any Uranus U-3 in my country. Better go with all wood still not inner carbon - correct?

Thanks

These rubbers will work good on both backhand and forehand. You might like a softer, slower one on backhand and a bit harder, faster on forehand...

Yes I know the Fextra 7 was quite fragile, but now all Sanwei blades are really good crafted. Inner carbon could certainly work good as well. Mostly you just get less flex, so it's a bit individual, what you like.

 

[UpHill_Battle]

These rubbers will work good on both backhand and forehand. You might like a softer, slower one on backhand and a bit harder, faster on forehand...

Yes I know the Fextra 7 was quite fragile, but now all Sanwei blades are really good crafted. Inner carbon could certainly work good as well. Mostly you just get less flex, so it's a bit individual, what you like.

for blade a sanwei parla? not the fextra one?

for my age and beginner-itermediate level, will 7ply all wood or inner carbon is better? given the rubbers you have suggested

 

[jk1980]

go all wood please, regardless of if it is 5ply or 7ply.
Everbody can go innerforce ALC of course, but your body will benefit from a blade where you feel the ball better and on top of it, there is no point in you taking a blade that will make you play strokes with 60% power 3 meters away from the table because with any more power you would drill holes into the wall behind the table. The ball weighs 2,4gramms, you should be able to exert enough force (with the right technique) to get the ball over to the other side from any reasonable distance.
Take this advice from somebody who played innerforce for more than a year if not longer. Sure i can also play with the innerforce blade and have a "good" consistency... that is what i told myself, but after changing to an allwood blade and giving it the time to adjust to it (now 3 month) my consistency skyrocketed. From let's say 70% success rate in 3rd ball openings in training drills (which when they came were a straight winner due to power) to basically 90% success rate in a real match with the balls being a winner due to spin and placement, instead of power. furthermore only with all wood i learned how i gimped myself with that other blade, because with the faster blade some techniques were just "too difficult" to even try them in a training match, while my current blade encourages me to more techniques, because they are not that difficult anymore.

But hey, you can still just play a viscaria and t05 and play 4 meters away from the table lobbing the ball over to the partner

 

[UpHill_Battle]

go all wood please, regardless of if it is 5ply or 7ply.
Everbody can go innerforce ALC of course, but your body will benefit from a blade where you feel the ball better and on top of it, there is no point in you taking a blade that will make you play strokes with 60% power 3 meters away from the table because with any more power you would drill holes into the wall behind the table. The ball weighs 2,4gramms, you should be able to exert enough force (with the right technique) to get the ball over to the other side from any reasonable distance.
Take this advice from somebody who played innerforce for more than a year if not longer. Sure i can also play with the innerforce blade and have a "good" consistency... that is what i told myself, but after changing to an allwood blade and giving it the time to adjust to it (now 3 month) my consistency skyrocketed. From let's say 70% success rate in 3rd ball openings in training drills (which when they came were a straight winner due to power) to basically 90% success rate in a real match with the balls being a winner due to spin and placement, instead of power. furthermore only with all wood i learned how i gimped myself with that other blade, because with the faster blade some techniques were just "too difficult" to even try them in a training match, while my current blade encourages me to more techniques, because they are not that difficult anymore.

But hey, you can still just play a viscaria and t05 and play 4 meters away from the table lobbing the ball over to the partner

Would have any recommendation given my scenario and level - for blade and rubbers?

 

[mocker88]

for blade a sanwei parla? not the fextra one?

for my age and beginner-itermediate level, will 7ply all wood or inner carbon is better? given the rubbers you have suggested

Well. I feel that the Fextra One gives a harder feeling, but speed wise they are quite similar. Parla gives a softer feeling what I remember. Go with wood. Wood is wood These rubbers work with both types of blades, but perhaps better with a wood blade.

 

[NetProphet]

Well I am not expecting miracles, but at least decent enough to play in tournaments and have some wins.

Last I played , it was against actual intermediate or advance players..so it wa apparent that it'll be a joke.

Would you recommend any blade and rubbers for my age to start with? for blade itself $110 usd. Also will an all wood or inner carbon be helpful in my scenario?

Butterfly website, Korbel (made in Japan) with Rozena both sides, your sorted for years!

 

[jk1980]

Would have any recommendation given my scenario and level - for blade and rubbers?

Given your Budget i would go for yasaka sweden extra and nittaku fastarc g-1 and c-1.
both are spin sensitive but low catapult rubbers. imo there is no point in trying to evade the "spin topic". you will have to learn to cope with spin. if you dont want to learn table tennis (and the spin component), play long pips or antispin and just block "everythin" with the same move. for me this would not be fun and i like to learn stuff.

 

[UpHill_Battle]

Well. I feel that the Fextra One gives a harder feeling, but speed wise they are quite similar. Parla gives a softer feeling what I remember. Go with wood. Wood is wood These rubbers work with both types of blades, but perhaps better with a wood blade.

I will check locally for allwood sanwei, 729 and yinhe you mentioned. But they are within $110USD blades right?

 

[UpHill_Battle]

appreciate the responses from all the views.

so what I gather,

• for my age of pushing 40, it is still possible to reach a competitive level - but dont expect too much just enough to compete and win some
• I should go with all wood and not inner carbon
• all wood recommendation (with my comments)
  • yasaka sweden extra (not much seller in my country)
  • Butterfly Korbel - made in Japan
  • fextra 7 (tho not a fan of sanwei quality)
  • 729 - Dragon S2 (still looking in local scene for this)
  • Yinhe - Uranus U-3 (still looking in the local scene for this)
  • Donic Persson Powerplay (isnt this a n actual 5ply? as film foil doesnt matter too much)??)
• rubbers recommended for both FH and BH - any other?
  • nittaku fastarc g-1
  • nittaku c-1
  • aurora max
  • focus snipe
  • ak47

May I know which to pick from this? So I can try and look for the needed equipment to restart.

 

[JJ Ng]

appreciate the responses from all the views.

so what I gather,

• for my age of pushing 40, it is still possible to reach a competitive level - but dont expect too much just enough to compete and win some
• I should go with all wood and not inner carbon
• all wood recommendation (with my comments)
  • yasaka sweden extra (not much seller in my country)
  • Butterfly Korbel - made in Japan
  • fextra 7 (tho not a fan of sanwei quality)
  • 729 - Dragon S2 (still looking in local scene for this)
  • Yinhe - Uranus U-3 (still looking in the local scene for this)
  • Donic Persson Powerplay (isnt this a n actual 5ply? as film foil doesnt matter too much)??)
• rubbers recommended for both FH and BH - any other?
  • nittaku fastarc g-1
  • nittaku c-1
  • aurora max
  • focus snipe
  • ak47

May I know which to pick from this? So I can try and lok for the needed equipment to restart.

I understand your budget is higher now but if you want to go all wood, I would still recommend Donic Persson Powerplay, which is a 7-ply except each layer is pretty thin and the overall thickness is still like most 5-ply all wood blade.

Yasaka Sweden Extra, Butterfly Korbel (made in Japan) and Fextra 7 are also very popular recommendations on this forum. I just have never played with any of those three so I have no comment.

As for rubber, I have played with G-1 and C-1 before. I think they are great! These two rubbers last like forever (same as Razka 7 series which also last forever). You should start by putting G-1 on the forehand and C-1 on the backhand. G-1 is harder and heavier than C-1, with slightly less catapult so G-1 works well with forehand. C-1 does have some catapult effect but not as extreme as, say, Tibhar Evolution series or Butterfly Tenergy series so G-1 and C-1 do work well together as a combo.

I think a lot of what you end up choosing might be dependent on where you can source your supply.

 

[mocker88]

I will check locally for allwood sanwei, 729 and yinhe you mentioned. But they are within $110USD blades right?

Yes the blades are about $30, but great blades. The rubbers are about $10-$20...

 

[UpHill_Battle]

Hi.

I have checked from local big sellers and known sellers, this post recommendation:

• yasaka sweden extra >> it is available
• Butterfly Korbel (made in Japan) >> it is available
• 729 - Dragon S2 >> no seller has this
• Yinhe - Uranus U-3 >> they have U2 spin, but handle felt thin and short for flared
• Donic Persson Powerpowerplay >> it stock but weight is 94g
• Donic Waldner Senso Carbon >> available (added) they say it is slow enough to re-learn the game
• Neottec voodoo classic >> available they say it is slow same as korbel build
• Donic Persson Seven >>available they say it is slow same as clipper build

Can anyone recommend blade from the highlighted ones?

TIA