This discussion came up at our club today, and no one could think of any. There must be some disadvantage that makes this rare. Any ideas?
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There is to few choppers, and to few left handed top players so I just think it's about the odds, I don't see that it would be any disadvantage.
I wondered about the percentage of lefties in the population and if that would explain it. Apparently, about 10% of the general population are left-handed, but in interactive sports some estimates ar closer to 1 out of 5 ("About one in 10 people are left-handed, but in a number of sports like boxing, fencing and table tennis, they were overrepresented to the tune of about one in five, study co-author Mark Panaggio said" in http://news.discovery.com/adventure/left-handed-athletes-sports-120426.htm). Sure there are less choppers than offensive players, but if there was no disadvantage to being left-handed one would expect at least 1 out of 10 choppers, and probably more, to be left handed, and we haven't been able to think of even 1 over the last 20 or 30 years. Seems odd. Either our memories are really faulty, or there is some tactical reason left-handed choppers can't make it to the big time.
says
Spin and more spin.
says
Spin and more spin.
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How many choppers are there in the top 100? 5? 6? Are there more? 5% or 6%. How many lefties in the top 100? 10-15?
Also, chopping seems like a losing strategy these days and being left handed gives you a pretty decent advantage in offensive play since it is much harder to have left handed players to practice against than to have right handed players to practice against. Even lefties have trouble with other lefties.
So perhaps the lefties are just smart and know that the percentages are in favor of them being an elite, left handed, offensive table tennis player rather than a left handed chopper.
There are even guys like Xu Xin who is actually right handed but plays table tennis lefty because his coaches, when he was a kid, saw he had the potential to have more power and be more effective playing with his left hand.
In tennis, Raphael Nadal is actually righty and had his coaches, when he was a kid decide the same thing and that is why he plays lefty.
Also, chopping seems like a losing strategy these days and being left handed gives you a pretty decent advantage in offensive play since it is much harder to have left handed players to practice against than to have right handed players to practice against. Even lefties have trouble with other lefties.
So perhaps the lefties are just smart and know that the percentages are in favor of them being an elite, left handed, offensive table tennis player rather than a left handed chopper.
There are even guys like Xu Xin who is actually right handed but plays table tennis lefty because his coaches, when he was a kid, saw he had the potential to have more power and be more effective playing with his left hand.
In tennis, Raphael Nadal is actually righty and had his coaches, when he was a kid decide the same thing and that is why he plays lefty.
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Err, ~ 10 % lefthander * ~ 10 % chopper = ~ 1 % lefthander chopper. 
Ok, that looks so dim, but,
At least we have a lefthanded modern allrounder who love to chop from France, Stephane Ouaiche. 😁
Ok, that looks so dim, but,
At least we have a lefthanded modern allrounder who love to chop from France, Stephane Ouaiche. 😁
Err, ~ 10 % lefthander * ~ 10 % chopper = ~ 1 % lefthander chopper.
Ok, that looks so dim, but,
At least we have a lefthanded modern allrounder who love to chop from France, Stephane Ouaiche.
Not so dim, but even at 1%, over the last 20 years, there should have been a few. I don't follow the women's game as much, but as chopping seems to be more prevalent there, maybe there have been a few left handed women choppers?
OK, I found someone who gathered some data in 2012: From http://www.experttabletennis.com/is-being-left-handed-an-advantage-in-table-tennis/ -
"There are 10 left-handed players in the top 25 and 16 in the top 50. That’s 40% of the players in the top 25 and 32% in the top 50. Quite a big over-representation when you remember that only about 10% of the world’s population are left-handed.
So who are these players? Do you know them all?
All I beleive are offensive players. The mystery deepens.
"There are 10 left-handed players in the top 25 and 16 in the top 50. That’s 40% of the players in the top 25 and 32% in the top 50. Quite a big over-representation when you remember that only about 10% of the world’s population are left-handed.
So who are these players? Do you know them all?
- 3. Xu Xin
- 5. Timo Boll
- 7. Jun Mizutani
- 14. Hao Shuai
- 15. Michael Maze
- 16. Chen Qi
- 18. Jiang Tianyi
- 21. Lee Jung Woo
- 22. Koki Niwa
- 25. Marcos Freitas
- 30. Patrick Baum
- 33. Kazuhiro Chan
- 46. Aleksander Karakasevic
- 47. Seo Hyun Deok
- 48. Joao Monteiro
- 49. Ko Lai Chak
All I beleive are offensive players. The mystery deepens.
I saw a couple of articles related to themes in this thread. One showed that the number of defenders among top players has remained consistent over time, and that there actually is a higher percentage of choppers among top players than there is at lower levels of play.
http://www.ittf.com/ittf_science/SSCenter/docs/Malagoli%20I-2-OK.pdf
There was also an article on the number of left-handed players in four main racket spots - tennis, table tennis, badminton, and squash, and there is a much higher percentage of left handers in table tennis than in any of those other sports - about 30%.
http://www.ittf.com/ittf_science/SSCenter/docs/Straub G_revised-OK.pdf
http://www.ittf.com/ittf_science/SSCenter/docs/Malagoli%20I-2-OK.pdf
There was also an article on the number of left-handed players in four main racket spots - tennis, table tennis, badminton, and squash, and there is a much higher percentage of left handers in table tennis than in any of those other sports - about 30%.
http://www.ittf.com/ittf_science/SSCenter/docs/Straub G_revised-OK.pdf
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Could it be simply explained by the fact that it's better for a defender to have to defend (counter) with the FH on a standard righty attack?
RHP (right handed players) will be able to put side spin taking the ball away from the opponent when attacking the natural diagonal (FH/FH).
In that case, a RHP defender can stretch and reach, or easily counter. Not the case if it's a LHP.
I know there are more LHP at the top level, but you need to have won against all the other RHP below them first! And it doesn't mean there aren't any good LHP defenders. Just that they have a harder and harder time against top righties (of which there are lots)
RHP (right handed players) will be able to put side spin taking the ball away from the opponent when attacking the natural diagonal (FH/FH).
In that case, a RHP defender can stretch and reach, or easily counter. Not the case if it's a LHP.
I know there are more LHP at the top level, but you need to have won against all the other RHP below them first! And it doesn't mean there aren't any good LHP defenders. Just that they have a harder and harder time against top righties (of which there are lots)
Olio said, "And it doesn't mean there aren't any good LHP defenders."
That actually was my initial inquiry to the forum - no one has been able to name any top LHP defenders.
I like your explanation - seems to be a sound reason for why LHP defenders would have a hard time.
That actually was my initial inquiry to the forum - no one has been able to name any top LHP defenders.
I like your explanation - seems to be a sound reason for why LHP defenders would have a hard time.
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E8V31o4ufAQ
After Ouaiche, Liu Song is the closest to LH chopper i can find (found on old thread from different forum).
But,
His chop more like a chop block Dr Neubauer style than a pure chop.
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After Ouaiche, Liu Song is the closest to LH chopper i can find (found on old thread from different forum).
But,
His chop more like a chop block Dr Neubauer style than a pure chop.
Sent from my T1X Plus using Tapatalk
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Left handed choppers can't make it
Being left handed we can't do well in tournaments chopping because right handed forehands go to the left handed backhand meaning defends is almost 100% of the, but choppers still need to attack to win and stepping around gives defenders too many openings.
I wanted to be a defender but its not going to happen
Being left handed we can't do well in tournaments chopping because right handed forehands go to the left handed backhand meaning defends is almost 100% of the, but choppers still need to attack to win and stepping around gives defenders too many openings.
I wanted to be a defender but its not going to happen
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Good =/= top
My emphasis was on the potential difficulty to reach the top international level. I have little doubt there will be very good LHP defenders in many countries. Just maybe not in the top 10 players.
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