lanatir seem to have a lot of knowledge in blades and all those stuff....got time must ask him for help lol

this is only my opinion ok.

like you i am a jpen user but i also play cpen.

now for technique. u must of course be flexible. try to find videos of ryu seung min in youtube. u will be able to find his practise videos. he has excellent technique. as a jpen user, we have the disadvantage of backhand shots. your footwork must improve as it is important to cover the disadvantage of backhand and also be in a position to be offensive. it is quite pointless to play jpen in a defensive manner (or depend too much on cutting/chopping). as u will notice, the arm should be roughly 90 degrees at the elbow (but not fixed lah... be flexible). dont just depend too much on the wrist (like a badminton player). u must also ensure that the upper arm moves accordingly. stance is extremely important. watch how RSM stands and when he pushes forward, u will see the waist come into play as well. this is how players like Wang Liqin generate so much power. the same concept also applies to martial arts (like taichi) - energy comes from the foot to the leg to the waist.

using cypress S, u must be able to pair it with the correct rubber that u can control. personally i think that using tackifire with it is a bit wasteful. this is because not only is the jpen grip an offensive grip, the cypress S itself is a fast single ply hinoki which would be better paired with faster classic rubbers like sriver or mark V or if u can control, tenergy or any of the newer tensors (like xiom omegas). i have not tried the donic F1 but i think it is not a tensor. my suggestion is that u should try to use a yasaka Mark V or tenergy but i cannot confirm until i know what sort of player are u? close table? mid distance looper?

at the end of it all, there is no speed without loss of control. there is no control without the loss of speed. u cannot have the best of it all. since u are already using the cypress S and not planning to change to a slower blade, u could try to control it with the correct choice of rubber. the current hot rubbers in japan are butterfly's tenergy, yasaka's pryde and xiom's omega III series. i am waiting to try omega III (euro version) myself. if you have the right technique and the right game for it, u should try using tenergy on your blade but probably at 1.9mm thickness first for better control. a lot of people cannot control 2.1mm or max thickness yet bcos tenergy is quite a monster with its rebound and very high throw.

fyi my gear

1) kokutaku super cho tokusen with tenergy 05
2) yasaka extra offensive fh - hurricane 2 with #19 sponge, bh - dr evil
3) dhs hurricane hao fh - yasaka pryde 2.0, bh - 729 80240

I got some other blades for collection lah but i havent put any rubber on them (bcos i collect precious single ply hinoki blades)

i read a lot lah... i'm not a good player. no talent and i started late. but i love ping pong so much and would love to share with you if you want to learn

haha same like a friend of my....anyway jpen = penhold

Ya ya, me too.

But until now still can't find a place to play.

well penhold consists of both jpen (japanese penholder) and cpen (chinese penholder)

yeap... thank you very much!! you are really good!!! hehe... actually i think of changing my rubber already de, jz still in observing stage.. hahah... erm... i usually play near table, as you said, penholder really need to be more offensive, that's right... i can play mid-range also, but jz so so lo heheh.... i go to have a look on tenergy first

eh... what is the difference btw (asian version) and (old version) for the omega III??

This post has been edited by full: Oct 30 2008, 10:28 AM

note... if u are a close table player, take note that the tenergy is a really high throw rubber and it's quite hard. it took me a few months to be able to control it properly for a close table game and i had to make sure that my strokes were full arm swings to really bring it back down. currently the tenergy available is tenergy 05. tenergy 64 should be coming out soon (i think it has a softer sponge but i dont really remember) and is available in some places in the world already. after that in 2009 u will see tenergy 25 appear.

u may wanna try tenergy 05 in 1.9mm thickness first to see if you can control. i know some people got really frustrated when they use 2.1mm first time. took me about 4 months before i got used to it.

in post speed glue era, it's hard to get good speed from chinese rubbers unless u have good stroke technique. however, if u do want to try the cheaper and super tacky chinese rubbers, please try DHS hurricane 2 or 3 with #19 sponge. they are excellent for close table (I prefer 2 over 3) and superb for spin. control is great too. the #19 sponge is softer than the older #20 sponge and makes using chinese rubbers without glue a bit better. but u will need more arm strength to get more speed from them. i love using H2 bcos i can whack as hard as i want and the ball still ends up on the table.

btw tenergy is also the most expensive rubber on the market ya... so be aware (it's around RM150-160 a piece but very durable and can last at least 1 year).

however if u are a cpen or SH player, then do try tenergy on the backhand bcos it really works well on the BH.

This post has been edited by lanatir: Oct 30 2008, 10:10 AM

jpen is the blade rectangular and cpen is the oval 1? cpen is like ma lin behind put rubber?

there are round shaped jpen blades too

but yes, most jpen blades are rectangular. the handle is squarish. normally u put 3 fingers behind the blade to provide support but this also decreases the flexibility of the grip. often u do not put any rubber on the backhand of the jpen but there are some newer blades that are designed for this as well bcos of the increase of players using RPB (reverse penhold backhand stroke) like wang hao and ma lin.

cpen blades are round with rubbers on both side. the handle is shorter than the SH handle and allows for a flexible grip. normally u do not splay out your fingers at the back. today many penhold players are attracted to cpen bcos of the possibility of using the RPB stroke.

bout the tenergy, it means that they will come out with softer sponge for the newer version?? i will give it a try if its sponge is softer... heheh.... how bout the omega III and omega II?? erm.... what is the difference among (euro version) and (asain version)??

oh ya,...... may i know anyone here manage to find kim taek soo blade(old version)? i would want to buy it, new or secondhand as well...
i couldn't manage to find it outside already

from what i heard 64 is slightly softer than 05. same topsheet rubber but different sponge.

tenergy 25 however will be a different topsheet. that's what i recall in some discussions. i haven't tried 64 or 25 so i cannot comment but today, in post speed glue era, A LOT of the international players are switching to tenergy 05 or 64.

as for xiom omega I, II and III, they are all tensors (increasing in speed and spin from I to III). i kinda like the tensor feel bcos they are soft and have that nice speed glue sound. i must say i haven't tried III yet bcos i am waiting for stock for the euro version of III (which is sold out in many places even in korea and japan). the asian version is faster and harder than the euro version.

there is also the xiom zeta which is, as many ppl say, like a mini omega III. a bit better for close table play and also slower than III.

u want to find red KTS? i have no idea. there are some collectors who have it. personally i think the red KTS is overhyped bcos they will be selling at some stupid price (RM800-900 at least). and also the old bty RSM which some places sell for up to RM2000+. there are so many good single ply jpens out there. among the top class are

1) bty KTS (blue)
2) kokutaku cho super cho tokusen
3) tsp dynam
4) nittaku cho tokusen A
5) darker speed 90
6) xiom RSM platinum
7) xiom LCS giga
8) yasaka hasha special
9) bty cypress max

this list has yet to include special editions like bty cypress special, ultra cho super cho tokusen and the TSP dynam special 11mm or some ridiculous 1000 yr old hinoki blade from darker. and also those custom made butterflies.

This post has been edited by lanatir: Oct 30 2008, 10:50 AM

btw in some places ard the world i think both tenergy 64 and 25 are already available

last time penhold backhand use the forehand surface until the arrival of wang hao and ma lin right? i like that style of backhand

Yeah! My bat is round shape jpen Senkoh 5.
But compare to cpen its area is a little bit small.

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Added on October 30, 2008, 10:00 pmWhat! can last at least 1 year call durable ah?

I though rubber can be use for many years one if take good care.



This post has been edited by keyser soze: Oct 30 2008, 10:00 PM

it depend on the playing style..if u spin a lot and hit the same sweet spot everytime..ur rubber wont last long..like my fren...those pro usually they have great spin on the ball..the rubber cant last long..usually last around 4 month like tat have to change d..

This post has been edited by ahwee1987: Oct 30 2008, 10:13 PM

actually RPB is not something new. just that both Ma Lin and Wang Hao were trained by Liu Guoliang to take advantage of it and turn it into an offensive BH. where for Ma Lin, he had to adapt to it over time, Wang Hao was specifically trained to use the RPB as a full offensive stroke.

you are right. a rubber can generally take around 120 hits per spot before it changes characteristic at that spot. imagine if u always hit that spot, your rubber will slowly change. no matter what you do to it, it will change. there is nothing u can do about it even though the rubber can still look shiny and new.

of course not everyone has the luxury to change rubber all the time.

during the speed glue era, where the skilled players used speed glue to reglue the rubber all the time, the rubber would only last 1 month or 2. today tensors with built in glue effect also last only a few months b4 they start to feel different.

Wanna share with you guys something

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oidw8__e6pw (Joo Se Hyuk vs Werner Schlager) on of my fave matches to watch as I love to watch a modern defender like Joo in action.

also some of my blades

my 20 yr old BTY jpen


my 10 yr old BTY Senkoh Z


my KKT super cho tokusen




my KKT cho super cho tokusen