People also forget that it was mostly made and used with celluloid balls. When bigger and harder ABS balls came into play, people switched either to the hard version or D05, to have a bit less catapult and more stability with touch shots.
But he can get to 8:7 in the decider against the Olympic champion.
Give him a break. He‘s 21. What did Ma Long do at the Olympics with 21? Sitting in front of the TV.
Butterfly Japan has different clothing of higher quality. It looks similar to the European version but has different fabric and better quality like seams etc.
I don’t think you‘d go wrong with either Harimoto ALC, Ovtcharov ALC or FZD ALC/Viscaria. As you can see there are pros with super strong backhands playing with those different blades.
The tables are a big factor nowadays. You can’t judge a ball without talking about the table surface.
There are slow (grippy) and fast (slick) tables. On slow tables the 3S (= D40+) is shit. On fast (slick) tables it’s good.