Pips Stars, Blades and Pips Rubber
1
Soft and thin like the Stiga OC, hard and solid like the Taksim, even the Super Zhang Jike, can all play pips. Essentially, as long as you get used to it. It also relates to your pips style — attacking-sweeping or pace-borrowing-defensive. If attacking, generally the blade should not be too soft. The softest should be seven-ply all-wood, like Ni Xialian’s Swat. Harder, like Wang Tianyi’s Rose CL, He Zhuojia’s and Sun Mingyang’s Ebony 7. And the outer ALC structure is fairly universal, suited to pips. Flagships like the Viscaria, Yinhe Heima-tuned ALC.
2
The importance of habit decides whether you can adapt to new rubber. Used to TSP’s Super Spinpips short-pips line, you easily find the built-in-energy VO>102 hard to control, even though it brings a stronger sense of speed.
3
The VO>102, called the king of short pips, is not that weird or sinking — it can even loop and lands well. Imported pips are famous for “easy to use, can loop.” Domestic pips rubbers have more threat and more sink. The 802 can play thrivingly too, just with a slightly higher error rate.
4
The W968 can play pips too. It seems to have started with Mu Zi. Zhang Rui and Miyu Kihara used it before. But this does not necessarily mean it is a pips god-blade. Because sometimes a pips player’s other side is inverted rubber, and she must also balance the inverted side’s attacking value, making trade-offs. For the pips side, just get used to the blade. This is a different consideration from single-side pips players.
5
“Soft yet firm” is the demand of a raw-rubber, short-pips blade. Soft can well do over-the-table control and ball-holding to get on the offensive, producing “fierce and sly.” Firm means it can produce a sense of speed while withstanding pace-borrowing defense. The Stiga CL series, Harimoto ALC once met such demands. The latter’s representative is Zhang Mo. I think the ayous-face Taksim, and our Two-Ma-Talk’s “Chongmingniao,” also met this expectation.
6
The faithful, linear Viscaria is also seen as a top choice for playing various pips — from raw rubber, short pips to long pips. Representatives: Yuan Jianan, Mukherjee, Bhatra and others. Mu Zi used it too — she used the CL, Vis, 968 and various types. As they say, national players’ ability is enough to cover blade differences.
7
Thicker-sponge raw rubber and short pips can keep stability when controlling, while providing stronger speed and bottom power after firing. The premise is you can drive through. Single-sheet ones are weirder and floatier.
8
As I know, the bestselling raw rubber is still 729’s cheapest, the 563. Japan’s top seller, also favored by table-tennis-school kids domestically, is the Moristo SP (Mima Ito uses it). And the one national players favor most is the Spectol line.
9
Generally, choosing a long-pips blade you should consider the blade’s pace-unloading. But cured long pips changed this. With illegal curing, a hard-springy blade works too.
10
For pips play’s threat, the greatest is still those whose “both sides are not inverted rubber.” For example Ayhika Mukherjee, forehand short pips Butterfly Impartial XS, backhand Gorilla anti-loop. For example Izawa Kyoka, who beat national players Qian Tianyi, He Zhuojia and Wang Xiaotong at the University Games — forehand short pips VO>102, backhand long pips Curl P5V.