The Setups of Six Heterogeneous-Attack Players
These six are players who performed fairly well at the All-Japan Championships. Their style is heterogeneous-attack — meaning at least one side has pips. In learning these specific setups, we need not fully copy them, but understand each one’s different traits, pondering how the player made this choice, to inspire ourselves.
Yuku Kizuka: Mizuno Fortius FT, forehand V>20 Double Extra, backhand Spectol S2 raw rubber. Influenced by his father’s love of seven-ply all-wood, he too likes such blades, with a softer contact feel. This seven-ply all-wood Fortius FT was fairly hot around 2015; then I watched Ma Long and Yuya Oshima’s seven-game battle at the China Open, where Oshima used this blade, and many in the Japan league used it then. I played this blade myself then; the impression is faint now — it feels a bit tauter than the CL, with the loop stroke needing more compactness. The V20 has stopped official-import sales — not so suited to Chinese styles. Block-defense or flicking, it is quite outstanding. Speed is not especially fast, but especially steady. When receiving, the V20 is even less prone to catching spin than the V15, drier. Its looping spin is fairly mediocre; it has to hit-brush — the more hit-brush, the more power and heavier ball quality. But it is not the type that easily pulls high spin like T05 or Helix Platinum. This Victas Spectol raw-rubber line: S1 is the classic, non-built-in-energy sponge, emphasizing “linear, grounded”; S3 is built-in energy, emphasizing “variation.” S2 is also built-in energy, high-rebound, but emphasizes “controllability” more.
Xiang Bi: Darker 7P2A Carbon, forehand Impartial XS short pips (1.9mm), backhand 388C-1 (1.5mm) raw rubber. Darker blades, long famous for high prices, actually have fairly amiable feel and stability. The value is not high, but they play steadily. This XS is used by quite a few players, like Miyu Kihara, Mukherjee. The backhand Dawei raw rubber — as everyone knows, domestic raw rubber often seems weirder; relatively, not as easy to control or as high-error-tolerance as imported raw rubber, but it sinks more, and opponents struggle to adapt to its traits.
Miku Ito: Ai Fukuhara ZLF, forehand Nittaku G-1, backhand Moristo SP raw rubber. The Ai Fukuhara ZLF is discontinued. From the gear, this girl’s style should be the Mima Ito type — backhand winning by variation and flicking, forehand seizing chances to slam wholesale.
Kotaro Matsuo: Koki Niwa all-wood, forehand D09c, backhand Rakza PO short pips. As for what all-wood suits pips, the answer can be very varied. Generally, seven-ply all-wood has an advantage, because the feel is linear with support. As for whether to choose a hardwood face ply (like the Ebony 7 used by He Zhuojia and Sun Mingyang), that depends on whether you control it with ease. For one-side-pips players, forehand using Hurricane or a slightly-tacky tensor (like this Matsuo’s D09c, or He Zhuojia’s DNA Golden Dragon), I think: one, see whether you can get used to it; two, see the style. Forehand mainly spin and power — first choice Hurricane; good for both loop and drive, emphasizing close-table quick-exchange — choose a slightly-tacky tensor, even a tensor.
Karen Iwami: Nittaku Xiaoyan, forehand Hammond Z2, backhand Moristo SP. I have actually not played this blade or the Z2.
Sakichu Kizuka: Stiga CL, forehand Black Devil Pips+, backhand Nittaku C-1. The CL needs no introduction — very classic. Pairing beginner blades, Stiga over a year sells who-knows-how-many CL just from the CL. The Black Devil Pips+ is discontinued. As for the backhand C-1, steady as an old dog. If the G-1 seems heavy and a bit hard, the C-1 is fairly friendly to many amateurs — linear, easy to command, with punchy friction.