WTT Singapore Smash 2023

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Apart from Ma Long and FZD, WCQ is nearly in that league of the elite. The rest, are either very shaky or won't be in the "reliable" group.

Unlike in the days of Wang Wang Ma, the 4th and 5th players could easily become number 1 and 2 if the top 3 are injured.
Today, it is Fan, Ma, Wang, and then, any 2 of the next bunch might not be the 1 and 2.
ZJK and ML were "juniors" in the Wang Wang Ma era. Even FZD joined as a 16 year old.
The depth today is not the same.

Womens side CNT has a lot more depth on up and coming players, unlike the mens who need a "old man" to stay on.
womens side, we have seen so many former no 1 retiring, who is still good enough to finish as a medalist in WTTC or OG. When depth is there, retirement could come early.

Competition from non Chinese is there, but it is still really only 1 player per country (max) that is challenging CNT.
Germany, Dima is getting old too.
Maybe the French brothers could be a dual threat. Sweden, Japan and Taiwan is a bit sad, with no real no 2 knocking on the door for a top 10 ranking (with 41 year old Chuang the nearest of them lot).

With Ma Long retiring and if FZD is out, China could be in a real thin ice position.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Pretty sure non-Chinese players could get W968 and Hurricane 3 Nationals if they want to. There are some reports saying Ishikawa and Hayata are using Nittaku Hurricane 3. The H2 blade is also the same composition as Long 5/W968.

I am not sure how much the equipment contributes. If it's such a deciding factor, then we should use Stiga or Xiom rubbers outside of Hurricanes because Truls and Hugo are the best-performing non-Chinese players in Singapore. Forget about Butterfly

You are right, non-Chinese can get DHS products no problem.

Remember, every country has someone who has access to someone who has access to DHS. Just look at how many hundreds or thousands of former provincial/national players/coaches that is around the world today.

Not to mention, official DHS distributors can sell them too. (this wasn't the case years ago).

In regards to Ishikawa and Hayata, they don't use the Nittaku, they use the DHS versions (remember, they are Chinese trained since young - even though they are in Japan, the entire coaching/trainer/practice partner team has been Chinese for as long as I know)
Nittaku and DHS version is totally different.

 

[hclnnkhg]

You are right, non-Chinese can get DHS products no problem.

Remember, every country has someone who has access to someone who has access to DHS. Just look at how many hundreds or thousands of former provincial/national players/coaches that is around the world today.

Not to mention, official DHS distributors can sell them too. (this wasn't the case years ago).

In regards to Ishikawa and Hayata, they don't use the Nittaku, they use the DHS versions (remember, they are Chinese trained since young - even though they are in Japan, the entire coaching/trainer/practice partner team has been Chinese for as long as I know)
Nittaku and DHS version is totally different.

Are the Nittaku H3 closer to hybrid rubbers? All I have heard about them is that they are extra heavy.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Are the Nittaku H3 closer to hybrid rubbers? All I have heard about them is that they are extra heavy.

I have Nittaku H3 Blue Sponge and it is as heavy as brick.

 

[hclnnkhg]

I have Nittaku H3 Blue Sponge and it is as heavy as brick.

Besides that, how does it playing characteristic compare to DHS H3s?

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Besides that, how does it playing characteristic compare to DHS H3s?

it is on par with H3 National at half the price. I have said it before and I say it again: Anyone who thinks he / she want to buy Nat H3, save the money and buy two pcs of the Nitakku Blue Sponge version instead.

For me, it is a bargain and it must be boosted to be used. The hardness is around 42 or 41 degree IIRC. It is definitely for the pro / elite player or masochist players who wants to make life miserable for themselves.

 

[latej]

Besides that, how does it playing characteristic compare to DHS H3s?

It's quite hard, cca 42,5, and rel. heavy. The sponge is marginally more elastic than the not-boosted H3 BS H41, I'd say it is approx. like H3 BS boosted with 1-2 layers. To put into some perspective, for me the diff. in elasticity between H3 BS and NH3BS is a bit less than between H3 H37 and H8-80 H37 (and that is already not a huge diff.). The sound is beautiful. The feeling on impact is quite damping, if you want to fully use the potential, you need fast stroke. If you do, the ball dives under the opponent's bat often. It is OK not to get the full potential of course. But then obviously one can say why do I need so hard rubber. It reacts beautifully to booster, and also never gets full dead as H3 BS with time, but it is not a fast rubber. The top-sheet quality is supreme. After a while of using it, taking into the consideration the full scale of strokes, I do think it is harder for me than I need. Also, I'd like to trade some spin for some speed on the FH too, so next time I'm gonna try the Victas TDE, which Zwill once suggested to me. I'm curious about the difference. So I'm not going to buy 2nd NH3 BS immediately now, but I'm very glad I tried it, and that it was available when I needed it. One other thing, but that is common to H3 too, is that people who are used to play against Btfly/ESN sometimes misjudge the amount of spin, both ways, on some directer strokes they expect more, and on more brushing strokes they sometimes expect less. There is also NH3 orange, which is 5deg. (on the other - ESN scale) softer, I never tried that one though. Search continues...

 

[hclnnkhg]

It's quite hard, cca 42,5, and rel. heavy. The sponge is marginally more elastic than the not-boosted H3 BS H41, I'd say it is approx. like H3 BS boosted with 1-2 layers. To put into some perspective, for me the diff. in elasticity between H3 BS and NH3BS is a bit less than between H3 H37 and H8-80 H37. The sound is beautiful. The feeling on impact is quite damping, if you want to fully use the potential, you need fast stroke. If you do, the ball dives under the opponent's bat often. It is OK not to get the full potential of course. But then obviously one can say why do I need so hard rubber. It reacts beautifully to booster, and also never gets full dead as H3 BS with time, but it is not a fast rubber. The top-sheet quality is supreme. After a while of using it, taking into the consideration the full scale of strokes, I do think it is harder for me than I need. Also, I'd like to trade some spin for some speed on the FH too, so next time I'm gonna try the Victas TDE, which Zwill once suggested to me. I'm curious about the difference. So I'm not going to buy 2nd NH3 BS immediately now, but I'm very glad I tried it, and that it was available when I needed it. One other thing, but that is common to H3 too, is that people who are used to play against Btfly/ESN sometimes misjudge the amount of spin, both ways, on some directer strokes they expect more, and on more brushing strokes they sometimes expect less. There is also NH3 orange, which is 5deg. softer, I never tried that one though. Search continues...

Thank you for your review. Doesn't sound too appealing if it needs boosting and is already super heavy and hard.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Are the Nittaku H3 closer to hybrid rubbers? All I have heard about them is that they are extra heavy.

If we talking about the blue sponge, then its actually even harder than the DHS 22# blue sponge.

So if hybrid is referring to soft sponge with tacky rubbers, then the Nittaku h3 pro 3 turbo blue for example is not in that section.
The turbo blue has a DHS top sheet with Nittaku sponge. The sponge is harder and heavier.
I have not used it before and don't know any one who uses them (including Nittaku sponsored players)

 

[Choosikick]

Apart from Ma Long and FZD, WCQ is nearly in that league of the elite. The rest, are either very shaky or won't be in the "reliable" group.

Unlike in the days of Wang Wang Ma, the 4th and 5th players could easily become number 1 and 2 if the top 3 are injured.
Today, it is Fan, Ma, Wang, and then, any 2 of the next bunch might not be the 1 and 2.
ZJK and ML were "juniors" in the Wang Wang Ma era. Even FZD joined as a 16 year old.
The depth today is not the same.

Womens side CNT has a lot more depth on up and coming players, unlike the mens who need a "old man" to stay on.
womens side, we have seen so many former no 1 retiring, who is still good enough to finish as a medalist in WTTC or OG. When depth is there, retirement could come early.

Competition from non Chinese is there, but it is still really only 1 player per country (max) that is challenging CNT.
Germany, Dima is getting old too.
Maybe the French brothers could be a dual threat. Sweden, Japan and Taiwan is a bit sad, with no real no 2 knocking on the door for a top 10 ranking (with 41 year old Chuang the nearest of them lot).

With Ma Long retiring and if FZD is out, China could be in a real thin ice position.

I was very pleasantly surprised by Truls Moregard with his game with Fan. In fact, and oddly enough, he is the only European player who was able to oppose Fan at least something. He and his coaches drew many conclusions from previous meetings and corrected the game for the better.
In French, I now like the game of older brother Alexis more, although in life the younger children, trying to catch up with the older one, often overtake him. We will follow their development with interest and cheer for them in matches against Chinese players.