Daily Table Tennis Chit Chat

[NextLevel]

Played a little today, my right knee will definitely be a topic with the doctor during my next annual checkup.

Finally got to hit with Mizutani SZlC. Some might give the title to the Viscaria Super ALC or the Koto outer SZLCs,( LYJ, ZJK, FZD) but I think the Mizutani SZLC is the fastest looping blade in the world (T5000 blades do not qualify in my opinion). The only problem I have right now is that I am playing really well with the Cybershape so I am not entirely sure it is worth it to learn a new blade. But I can see the Mizutani power for sure, some counters just kick without leaving any trail for the opponents to see. That said, with Golden Tango, I get a reasonably similar effect with the Cybershape.

Getting better at looping and recovering the next ball. Will continue to work on it. Also I find the videos of Dr Tsuchiya on WRM-TV really interesting. He talked about the importance of making contact outside the blade sweet spot if you want to keep the ball short. I am now going to make a conscious effort when pushing short to push close to the handle and see if it makes a difference in standardizing my technique.

Finally, I have fixed my reverse serve simply by changing how I hold the paddle when I serve. So I will be reintroducing it in matches soon.

In a good place for sure just need to figure out what is going on with the knee.

 

[Der_Echte]

... as long as I don’t go all out Rambo / Gun Ho, play with more spin as we have been discussing / implementing then it will be fine, and so far so good!!!

haha, @IB66 you oughtta see the nick name Next Level hung on me 10 yrs ago and my OOAK forum avitar...

 

[JeffM]

Today I drove back to the city. It was a rough drive, through thunderstorms where the visibility is so poor that I had to slow down. It was already a long drive to start off with, 400+km, now with poor weather, driving slower and more stops etc.

Anyhow, I got there in the end. The main reason that I am coming back this time is for a competition.
So I already arranged to have a hit at the city club with my old friend (penholder) who used to be my teammate in unigames.
One thing that I really miss being in the city is that the clubs are so readily available that I can go pretty much any day of the week and I can practice.

The 2 main things that I really want to do is:
1. get used to my D09c so I can have my fh back
2. learn how to deal with heavy spins as this is going to drain my points in competition whenever someone opens up with heavy spin.
I already knew one of the opponent that I will be playing in the competition, and his style is spinning heavy fh and bh.

He fed me multi-balls.
It was good, I got to practice fhs, bhs, then fh open ups, bh open ups, and a bit of movement too.
He is trying to get me to have more hitting rather than purely brushing in my fh loops to increase threat. I think it sort of did work but whether I will use it in the comp will be a different story. It was still satisfying.
Then he tried to chop balls while I loop them off.
Then I practiced some blocking off spinny balls. I wouldn't call it super heavy spin but I think it is still some practice that is better than not practicing. My strategy is if opponent is looping from bh corner, then I will block to his fh side, and vise versa (if from fh side, then block to bh side) so that he has to work to earn those points.

At the end, I ask to play a match with him so I can practice some match skills.

First set: I got off to a good start, 4-0, then just as I thought things are going to be great, he upped his game and then he is leading 8-4. I tried to chase but was unsuccessful.
Second set: I can't exactly remember what happened, but he won. His short game is better than me. I used to have a better short game with penhold but with shakehand, he is better than me in that aspect. Because of that, I feel when I serve short, I don't gain as much advantage.
Third set: It was a close set, I am targeting his bh side more with my serve, as I know even though he can, he does not often open up with the rpb. It wasn't easy, but I won 11-9. The final crucial points I think he made a mistake of trying to do something fancy in his serve receive off my heavy short backspin serve and it went to the net.
Fourth set: I did better. He had been having success in doing counter topspin off my fh opening up, so I tried to go down the line more often. I am also doing alot more bh bananas off his serves as they aren't too heavy and gaining some points off that.
Fifth set (final set): I got off to a good start, 5-3, then 8-4. He made 2 serve mistakes in a row! Then he came back to 8-8! I managed to play some good shots with my bh in serve receive even when the balls were short but curved out of the table, I stepped in and put some good topspin in the receive. It is satisfying when I do them with my bh. I managed to win 13-11.

I'm happy that I get to play again and to have a win.
I feel my backspin serve isn't as spiny as when I was using H3 but I can still serve short, so the amount of spin might be something that I will need time to adjust to.
I'm feeling alot more comfortable to loop with the D09c now, so that is great as it adds to my confidence.

Tomorrow I will be going back to the club but will have an hour with a coach to work on fh loop off backspin and also to try practice dealing with heavy spiny open ups.

Then competition on Friday + Saturday. This is going to be a big week of TT for me.

 

[blahness]

My short pips arrived and I put them alongside my long pips on my unused Clipper CR WRB. The increased weight of the setup really disrupted my feeling and I was forced to play some matches before I even got used to the setup and lost 3 games straight coz I couldn't even serve with any degree of control 😅 I won 1 after that with difficulty but he had to go already. He was constantly serving fast long with a lot of spin variation which I couldn't really control properly with the pips typical anti pips strategy that I use too!

After that I did a lot of multiball practice to get my left hand back up to speed. I think I'm starting to get a hold of chopblocking medium pace loops now - harder loops are just way too difficult at the moment. I even have a basic working RPB now haha....it does feel way nicer than the TPB which I'm still working on.

I have to admit that I play way, way better with just my right hand and my left hand is still just a liability lol. The two hand thing is more like cool exhibition stuff to wow ppl around. Whenever I touch the ball with my left hand I never have a good safe feeling I get with my right. Also having a blade in the left hand often means more weight and it feels like even my right hand loops are affected in terms of flexibility and stability. Furthermore it introduces indecision points - which are deadly in such a fast sport. And I'm not that weak in short serve receive either, I gotta admit that my inverted receive is already very threatening with all the variations and especially the BH chiquita.

Suddenly realised that amateur TT is extremely skewed towards old ppl, and young ppl are almost nowhere to be found (for good reason). Quite a bit of the old ppl also have kinda bad attitudes for some reason (not sure why - they should be retired and enjoying life, not being miserable af). I really like the sport itself but often not the ppl and their petty, snarky, antisocial attitudes which makes the sport ugly af. Although I'm generally quite resilient, interacting with them really is a pain, something I don't need for my hobby. I probably should pick up something like bouldering, surfing, etc...

My regular training partners are the exception really, and they're the ones that I enjoy practicing and competing with.

I envy the Japanese TT scene - it really seems to be full of cool ppl, and there's a lot of young ppl around with their positive energy.

Maybe I'm wasting my time on this TT obsession while I should really be doing something more interesting and useful when I'm young....

 

[IB66]

Tonight was my last session with Tom, for now anyway, going to be too busy coaching and playing matches, the season starts next week, and I have a tournament this weekend, not sure which band (level) I will be in, but really looking forward to it!!!
I played pretty good tonight!! the best session with Tom, made mistakes, but consistency levels are on the rise.
We did an hour of open up v backspin FH and BH with regular and irregular play, also incorporated transition from playing opening topspin v backspin to then playing topspin v topspin counter loop, making sure that I get over the ball.
We also swapped roles every 2 points.
Tom would serve all the time, short or 1/2 long back/sidespin, I would push return, Tom would push 3rd ball and then I would open up 4th ball, then after 2 points Tom would open up on 3rd ball, heavy topspin and I would either block or try and counter the heavy spin 3rd ball.
Serves were anywhere, I could push anywhere, any how, long, short, side spin pushes, pushes with the incoming side/backspin and against the side/bacspin. 3rd ball push from Tom would be to BH for 5 mins, then FH for 5 mins, then anywhere for 5 mins. When Tom was opening up the 3rd ball, he would open up anywhere.
We also played games with the above format but with irregular play.
2nd hour was serve receive and serve and 3rd ball attack/ open up, totally irregular, any serves, any receives etc this is the match related practice.
One point of note was again recovery, after 3rd or 4th ball, recovering slightly further back, by maybe 200mm(8 inches). Not much but it makes a BIG difference. That tiny amount of additional time I had increased my shot quality, spin and precision!!

looking forward to the tournament, feel in a good place, gotta keep in the real world, think and don’t get carried away!!
hopefully I’ll play well !!!

 

[Wrighty67]

Tonight was my last session with Tom, for now anyway, going to be too busy coaching and playing matches, the season starts next week, and I have a tournament this weekend, not sure which band (level) I will be in, but really looking forward to it!!!
I played pretty good tonight!! the best session with Tom, made mistakes, but consistency levels are on the rise.
We did an hour of open up v backspin FH and BH with regular and irregular play, also incorporated transition from playing opening topspin v backspin to then playing topspin v topspin counter loop, making sure that I get over the ball.
We also swapped roles every 2 points.
Tom would serve all the time, short or 1/2 long back/sidespin, I would push return, Tom would push 3rd ball and then I would open up 4th ball, then after 2 points Tom would open up on 3rd ball, heavy topspin and I would either block or try and counter the heavy spin 3rd ball.
Serves were anywhere, I could push anywhere, any how, long, short, side spin pushes, pushes with the incoming side/backspin and against the side/bacspin. 3rd ball push from Tom would be to BH for 5 mins, then FH for 5 mins, then anywhere for 5 mins. When Tom was opening up the 3rd ball, he would open up anywhere.
We also played games with the above format but with irregular play.
2nd hour was serve receive and serve and 3rd ball attack/ open up, totally irregular, any serves, any receives etc this is the match related practice.
One point of note was again recovery, after 3rd or 4th ball, recovering slightly further back, by maybe 200mm(8 inches). Not much but it makes a BIG difference. That tiny amount of additional time I had increased my shot quality, spin and precision!!

looking forward to the tournament, feel in a good place, gotta keep in the real world, think and don’t get carried away!!
hopefully I’ll play well !!!

Good luck at the weekend - my teammates Gabor and Andy Prince there so say hello!

 

[IB66]

Good luck at the weekend - my teammates Gabor and Andy Prince there so say hello!

depending on how they have drawn the bands, possibility of playing one of them!!! unless they are higher level!!!??

 

[IB66]

Had an issue with the Hexer Grip on the BH, Played last Friday, no issues, took the bat out on Tuesday's coaching session to find some small bubbles had appeared, about 15 of them. My brain doesn't like equipment issues!!!!! Which in reality these bubbles were in a position where they were unlikely to be hit during play, but my brain just keeps thinking about the bubbles!!!! So I took the sheet off, bubbles were between top sheet and sponge. First time i have had bubbles appear!!
Started to search through spare used sheets in red for a temporary replacement, all the ESN grippy sheets had shrunk back!! a couple of sheets of Rakza Z hadn't shrunk but had been on a blade with a smaller profile!!! Found one red sheet of H8-80 that was oversized!!! Panic over!!! I think it is 37degree, so stuck it on, trimmed it back and went off to the session with Tom.
this sheet of H8-80 is about 50% tackier than the J&H hybrid I have on FH.
No issues whatsoever changing from the Hexer Grip to H8-80, in fact everything worked really well on my BH, more spin and control noted by Tom, speed similar.

 

[IB66]

My short pips arrived and I put them alongside my long pips on my unused Clipper CR WRB. The increased weight of the setup really disrupted my feeling and I was forced to play some matches before I even got used to the setup and lost 3 games straight coz I couldn't even serve with any degree of control 😅 I won 1 after that with difficulty but he had to go already. He was constantly serving fast long with a lot of spin variation which I couldn't really control properly with the pips typical anti pips strategy that I use too!

After that I did a lot of multiball practice to get my left hand back up to speed. I think I'm starting to get a hold of chopblocking medium pace loops now - harder loops are just way too difficult at the moment. I even have a basic working RPB now haha....it does feel way nicer than the TPB which I'm still working on.

I have to admit that I play way, way better with just my right hand and my left hand is still just a liability lol. The two hand thing is more like cool exhibition stuff to wow ppl around. Whenever I touch the ball with my left hand I never have a good safe feeling I get with my right. Also having a blade in the left hand often means more weight and it feels like even my right hand loops are affected in terms of flexibility and stability. Furthermore it introduces indecision points - which are deadly in such a fast sport. And I'm not that weak in short serve receive either, I gotta admit that my inverted receive is already very threatening with all the variations and especially the BH chiquita.

Suddenly realised that amateur TT is extremely skewed towards old ppl, and young ppl are almost nowhere to be found (for good reason). Quite a bit of the old ppl also have kinda bad attitudes for some reason (not sure why - they should be retired and enjoying life, not being miserable af). I really like the sport itself but often not the ppl and their petty, snarky, antisocial attitudes which makes the sport ugly af. Although I'm generally quite resilient, interacting with them really is a pain, something I don't need for my hobby. I probably should pick up something like bouldering, surfing, etc...

My regular training partners are the exception really, and they're the ones that I enjoy practicing and competing with.

I envy the Japanese TT scene - it really seems to be full of cool ppl, and there's a lot of young ppl around with their positive energy.

Maybe I'm wasting my time on this TT obsession while I should really be doing something more interesting and useful when I'm young....

Hi Blahness,

How old are you? you've been a forum member since 2010, if you were 10yrs old when you signed up, that puts you at about 23yrs old, virtually a VETERAN!!!!!
It's a shame that many older people you have encountered have a poor attitude etc, they should be trying to get juniors and young adults into the sport, not putting them off!!!

 

[Wrighty67]

depending on how they have drawn the bands, possibility of playing one of them!!! unless they are higher level!!!??

They’ll be 2-4 I guess

 

[turbozed]

Suddenly realised that amateur TT is extremely skewed towards old ppl, and young ppl are almost nowhere to be found (for good reason). Quite a bit of the old ppl also have kinda bad attitudes for some reason (not sure why - they should be retired and enjoying life, not being miserable af). I really like the sport itself but often not the ppl and their petty, snarky, antisocial attitudes which makes the sport ugly af. Although I'm generally quite resilient, interacting with them really is a pain, something I don't need for my hobby. I probably should pick up something like bouldering, surfing, etc...

I notice this too and it's somewhat bizarre. I generally have a great time when I'm playing. When someone makes a nice shot I'll compliment them. I'll never get frustrated by an edge or net that goes against me. Some of these middle age and up type guys seem to have taken a wrong turn somewhere and look like they're having the worst time of their lives at the table.

This is definitely something I've noticed more in the USA than elsewhere in the world and maybe part of the issue is club culture. In the region I'm in right now (Silicon Valley), it's a highly competitive environment where Chinese and Indian parents start their kids playing early and put a lot of pressure on them. I've seen some of the top US players and young talents here and people probably are emulating their seriousness, thinking that's the attitude that will make them better.

Another reason is that competition in any form will just bring out people's personality and ego issues. This was the case when I used to train and spar in kickboxing. Some people were just antisocial or disturbed people who brought their issues into the gym and it was obvious in how they handle their emotions. The culture of the gym or training room can put a lid on a lot of this behavior though, and people that fall out of line are reeled in by competent trainers and coaches that understand the dynamic. This often means putting the offending party up against the gym enforcer for a humbling lesson.

For the most part TT is a solitary endeavor, and there's really little need for them to get along well with others to get to a certain level. So antisocial people will mostly be able to find a partner so long as they can play.

I got into TT at a late age after playing some Eleven VR and then watching Adam Bobrow videos. He made TT seem wholesome and fun, but the reality is that people need to bring that sort of attitude with them, and that's somewhat rare.

The most encouraging and wholesome TT environment I've experienced was in Tokyo where I did multiball training with about a dozen of older Japanese ladies. They were all getting exercise in, being encouraging of each other, and having a good time.

One old lady in her 70s even said to me in Japanese "table tennis is very fun, isn't it?" Pretty simple statement but her delivery was memorable enough that it stuck with me. Now when I run into any negativity I have her voice in my head reminding me that I should just have fun with it.

 

[blahness]

Hi Blahness,

How old are you? you've been a forum member since 2010, if you were 10yrs old when you signed up, that puts you at about 23yrs old, virtually a VETERAN!!!!!
It's a shame that many older people you have encountered have a poor attitude etc, they should be trying to get juniors and young adults into the sport, not putting them off!!!

I'm closing on 30 now

Yes I think it's a shame too tbh.... I rarely ever meet anyone my age or less who loves TT 😢

 

[blahness]

I notice it's somewhat bizarre. I generally have a great time when I'm playing. When someone makes a nice shot I'll compliment them. I'll never get frustrated by an edge or net that goes against me. Some of these middle age and up type guys seem to have taken a wrong turn somewhere and look like they're having the worst time of their lives at the table.

This is definitely something I've noticed more in the USA than elsewhere in the world and maybe part of the issue is club culture. In the region I'm in right now (Silicon Valley), it's a highly competitive environment where Chinese and Indian parents start their kids playing early and put a lot of pressure on them. I've seen some of the top US players and young talents here and people probably are emulating their seriousness, thinking that's the attitude that will make them better.

Another reason is that competition in any form will just bring out people's personality and ego issues. This was the case when I used to train and spar in kickboxing. Some people were just antisocial or disturbed people who brought their issues into the gym and it was obvious in how they handle their emotions. The culture of the gym or training room can put a lid on a lot of this behavior though, and people that fall out of line are reeled in by competent trainers and coaches that understand the dynamic. This often means putting the offending party up against the gym enforcer for a humbling lesson.

For the most part TT is a solitary endeavor, and there's really little need for them to get along well with others to get to a certain level. So antisocial people will mostly be able to find a partner so long as they can play.

I got into TT at a late age after playing some Eleven VR and then watching Adam Bobrow videos. He made TT seem wholesome and fun, but the reality is that people need to bring that sort of attitude with them, and that's somewhat rare.

The most encouraging and wholesome TT environment I've experienced was in Tokyo where I did multiball training with about a dozen of older Japanese ladies. They were all getting exercise in, being encouraging of each other, and having a good time.

One old lady in her 70s even said to me in Japanese "table tennis is very fun, isn't it?" Pretty simple statement but her delivery was memorable enough that it stuck with me. Now when I run into any negativity I have her voice in my head reminding me that I should just have fun with it.

I think your analysis is spot on. I too envy the Japanese scene. Often I watch their videos and people who play there, the vibes are just so wholesome!

 

[netdriver]

i came across a tutorial on penhold hook serves on youtube and im starting to learn how it works

let me tell you that the spin i am able to get on my serves now is batshit insane, with good deception too, but despite all that spin i still need more time to figure out how to do more spin variations and how i can use it to compliment my third ball attack playstyle

 

[NextLevel]

Someone posted this on mytt, I think some of you might enjoy it.

 

[JeffM]

I didn't post yesterday as I was quite run down and tired.

Yesterday, I had an hour of training with a coach that recently moved to Perth. Since I knew who I was going to play today, I asked her to specifically train 2 things: my fh loop against backspin push (as I was slightly less confident with D09c), and then blocking spinny balls.

During our warm up, she noticed that I was using my arm too much in the backswing / reset, and because of that, I am often late when she feeds me multiball. It is fine if someone actually blocking it back to me but multiball speed is faster. The other point that I knew already is to use my body rotation more, but when I am tired, I do less of it. There wasn't much break so I was out of breath quite quickly as she tries to finish a basket of balls.
Then we practiced fh loop against backspin. It was fine for me except when she push it to my bh while i pivot. I often don't leave enough space between me and the table, and then my success rate drops. But if I pre-emptively piviot then it is fine. This is fine in drills but in match setting this is not feasible as ppl will see me pivot too early and push to my fh side lol. Then she reminds me that I should be watching her bat instead of the ball, so I can know where it will go. After she told me that, I did better as she do random placement! This is something that I need to consciously work on later.

Then I wanted to get some practice blocking her spin. So I got her to serve, I push, and she loop. She didn't really like that idea as that means she has to actually 'work' lol. She also didn't loop that hard so I sort of found the exercise less meaningful, as ppl would tend to either loop hard or spiny in matches, and she does neither. Still I got the advise that I am often 'rushing' into the block. The ball is still rising and too early and I am rushing forward to block it and it tends to go into the net. I need to learn to let the ball rise bit more then block, something that I am not too comfortable with.

I then took a break. Then I played with my city event doubles partner, we practiced what we are going to do in our matches, and had some practice matches with other players. He is ranked 150-200 points above me. He is so technical that he has already made 24 bats for himself, and he thins some area etc to get the weighting just right to achieve what he wants to do. He played me in singles first with an older version of his bat. I managed to take 1 set off him and lost 3-1. Then he played me with his newest bat and the feeling of the balls coming to me is so different that I couldn't really believe it.

I didn't want to tire myself out as I was actually pretty tired already (from the drive the day before and some practicing the day before and on that day), so I went home after and slept.

I was feeling quite nervous about the match today as I have played against this guy before, and I know he is very aggressive and can loop both wings. I prepared quite alot to play him, asked 2 friends to have a look at some videos and gave me some tips. I didn't sleep well probably because of the nerve even though I try tell myself I should just go and enjoy the match.

Today I went to the competition. Waited for 1 hour + until I could play, because as usual, the events run late. My event was meant to start at 6pm, I played my match after 7. The guy that I was preparing against didn't come!! Argh.
Then I had to play against someone that is 250 points above me. He is older, maybe 60s-70s, and uses pips at the back.
First set, I hit some really nice loops with my fh down the line. He could not handle it. But somehow I was having trouble receiving his serve when he uses his pips to serve. He just does what looks like a normal toss and topspin serve to my bh and I kept dumping them into the net!! ARGH. I lost 11-9 first set.
Second set, he had a massive lead against me. 7-0. Then came back a bit but lost at 11-6.
Third set, I did better but again lost 11-8. Last match point I did a serve fault lol.
At times I couldn't remember which side of his bat is pips, and because of that, I made some mistakes. At the start when I asked what pips he uses, he told me a name and instead of whether it was long pips or short pips.
Anyway, I was kind of happy that my loops were good.

Tomorrow will be the final day and I have 4 events.
I hope to perform to my best.

Thanks for reading.

 

[blahness]

i came across a tutorial on penhold hook serves on youtube and im starting to learn how it works

let me tell you that the spin i am able to get on my serves now is batshit insane, with good deception too, but despite all that spin i still need more time to figure out how to do more spin variations and how i can use it to compliment my third ball attack playstyle

Target the FH short area with the hook serves and you'll get a lot of nice attacking opportunities, and then blast them with fast long serves to the BH when they're stepping in prematurely

 

[beeray1]

Is something going on with TTDSL? Initially they said they delayed putting it out so they could have it all ready to go for weekly releases. Then after a couple, they went a few weeks before a release. then again. Then they had episodes scheduled on their website - there was supposed to be one dropping today. But now the site is down. I know they advertised the British premier league live stream coming up, but every time a friday comes up with no release i'm so bummed

 

[JeffM]

Is something going on with TTDSL? Initially they said they delayed putting it out so they could have it all ready to go for weekly releases. Then after a couple, they went a few weeks before a release. then again. Then they had episodes scheduled on their website - there was supposed to be one dropping today. But now the site is down. I know they advertised the British premier league live stream coming up, but every time a friday comes up with no release i'm so bummed

Yes I'm in the same boat. Initially I was expecting weekly episodes too but I am guessing they noticed they weren't getting as many views when they were doing that, so they are changing it. Weekly release is good for us their followers but perhaps they have a different agenda.

 

[JeffM]

Today I played some great table tennis at the state open Championship.

I won 2 medals:

Mixed Country Doubles Champion

Mixed Country Singles Runner-up

The day started out with confusion, and that is to be expected with events like this. For our country doubles, the opponent team were missing 1 player. By default, we should move on to the next stage, but somehow they arranged for someone else to sub in for that team. So we played them, and won. Then we played the next match, which was quite tough as one guy had really deceptive serve and good fh loop. We managed to win too. Now we are the current Mixed Country Doubles Champion!

For country singles, I beat a guy first. He had a strange style, where he would aggressively push balls but he wouldn't actually try to attack with loop. The whole match I think he tried to attack with topspin loop once and it failed. He is very stable in his pushes though. My loops were solid today, so they either blast through or he would not be able to handle the topspin and it bounces out. 3-1 for me. Then I played my doubles partner, and he won 3-0. There were maybe 1-2 close sets but by far, he was better than me. His bh serve where he adds in a bit of a kick got me so many times where I end up hitting the edge. Otherwise, my fh attacks were strong, but he is a very good chopper with inverted and he has very good touch. There were a few balls that I was smashing them at my maximum strength yet he manages to lob/chop them back. He was through to the finals but he didn't want to wait, so he asked me to play for him in the finals. So I played in the finals against a guy whose spin is too much for me to handle. When I try to block, I just can't put it on the table, and then when I try to counter hit it, I miss the ball mostly due to the downward dip. So I lost 0-3, but because I was in the finals, I got a runners up medal haha.

In the other doubles event, I played quite well in the first 2 sets with my partner, where my loops % were really high, but then we marginally lost the 3rd set, and then we lost next 2... So that was an unexpected end to that event.

In the other singles event, I played my first match against a teenager who has a disability with his right hand and some movement issue. I am really amazed by his level though, the touch he has on his fh is astonishing. He is a leftie, and uses long pips on the bh side. I simply cannot win against his fh side. I won first set marginally, 14-12 I think. I was trying all sorts of things to him, doing a wide fh serve but he somehow gets it back and would loop it down the line!? The good thing I did in that game was reading the spin though with his long pips, my mind was relatively clear on that matter, so when I push to him and he uses long pips to return to my bh, I can still return with relatively not much spin to him and sometimes he has trouble with it. But if I return to his fh, I would be asking for a whooping. My previous doubles partner was on the benchside giving me advise, and the thing that worked for me is if I serve long light topspin to his bh. This would result in a bh block with his long pips. Initially the return would be very predictable to my bh side, and I would then be able to kill it with my fh loop, if not the first loop, then the 2nd loop. Either with spin or with speed. But when I do it enough times, he gets used to it and would do a block wide to my fh side. They were really wide, like on the right side line. Surprisingly, I was moving really well, so I got quite alot of those back, and they were quite amazing returns. We had some really good rallies, ones where he would applaud me for getting those that seemed like a winner back. I was surprised too. That was the only thing that worked, because when I try to put side spin or do reverse bh serve, the return comes back rather odd and then I would miss the return. In the last set, at 6-9, I did a long serve but with slight backspin and then he blocked the ball out. I think because all the other serves I did was light topspin, he didn't expect that I would change at that stage. Then I closed the match with a 3-1 victory. At that time, it was 2:30pm and I had no lunch. I did have a few snacks prior but I was starving and I've been at the venue since 7:30am, so I didn't continue with the event and went for food instead.

I certainly didn't expect to win medals at this event, but I am now rather confident with my fh looping and I like the D09c now.
Perhaps one thing I was disappointed about was that in the country singles, I wanted to serve short backspin, but I couldn't and he kept picking them off. I need more practice so I can do it with D09c as my H3n.
Other than that, I am quite happy with the fh loops.