Taiyuan Stop: A Few Players' Interesting Setups
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Kazuhiro Yoshimura — Maharu Yoshimura’s younger brother. The blade is the Victas 90th Anniversary Kazuhiro Yoshimura commemorative edition. His rubber was previously V>15 Sticky on both sides; this Taiyuan stop he switched to ZYRE-03. Did his brother give it to him? Now the vast majority of Japanese men national players switched their backhand to Z03, including nearly all Butterfly-signed men. Maharu Yoshimura keeps Z03 on both sides, the handle is the Zhang Jike ALC inlay, the structure should be outer SALC. The Kazuhiro Yoshimura commemorative edition’s structure is the same as the ZX-Gear Out — outer Z-carbon, ayous core. This structure seems springier after firing. This time he partnered his brother in men’s doubles, reaching the semifinal. In men’s singles he lost 2-3 to our national player Li Hechen.
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Li Hechen. Last year he played the Hurricane King acB, at least the handle; now he plays the Tibhar Alexis, outer green-aramid carbon. We always say national players’ ability is enough to cover gear differences, so their switching between outer and inner blades is no surprise. For example, the blade-switching god Huang Youzheng is a typical representative. Li Hechen plays a Tibhar blade. Well, my friend jokes it is the “Ma Lin effect” — in January, Ma Lin signed with Tibhar.
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Bhatra. The blade is still the Viscaria; his backhand was previously Yinhe’s Huang Jianjiang Pips Master VVIP, now switched to the Dawei 388D-2. For long pips’ weirdness, you still need our domestic ones. Imported long pips are more about easy landing and high error-tolerance. For blades suited to weird rubber, yesterday’s article showed many Dr. Neubauer carbon blades. Actually, if you rely heavily on pips rubber or anti-loop rubber’s weirdness, and defensive support, most people choose outer aramid-carbon blades, with a ball-holding pause and a quick recovery-defense first speed. Whether the Vis or the slightly softer Heima-tuned ALC, friends around me report playing pips comfortably. And those using inner aramid-carbon blades, like Chen Junsong with the Q968, must emphasize forehand impact. The backhand, more often, is just transition and seeking some variation, not highlighting weirdness.
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Li Tianyang crushed teammate Chen Yuanyu 3-0. Earlier, down 0-2, he reversed 3-2 to beat Masaki Aida, also a chop-attack player. This is Li Tianyang’s first international event; his blade is the DHS custom 08X, a more forehand-punchy model in the 08 series. Masaki Aida still uses the hinoki three-ply Yasaka Zhengzong. In women’s singles, Yao Ruixuan lost 0-3 to Honoka Hashimoto, and Han Feier lost 0-3 to Hitomi Sato. Our national players, men and women, mostly failed the chopper test.