Xu Xin's Blade Evolution: A Penhold Artist From the YEO to the Blue-Stamp
1. The YEO
When I was a junior, following my idols was the safest choice and where my heart lay — hold your idol’s blade and you felt possessed by their spirit. Back then the sport still had many penhold greats; Ma Lin was wielding the YEO to great effect, so Xu Xin burst onto the scene with one too. An all-wood five-ply with strong flex once you penetrate it: even playing shakehand YEO with a Tianji 2, I felt my loops were seriously spinny. Its hard walnut surface gave clear blocking and good over-the-table touch — well suited to the still-raw Xu Xin of those days.
2. The Nano OC (2010)
At the 2010 Direct-to-Moscow trials he took the title, beating Ma Long and Wang Liqin, and that year won the Kuwait Open men’s singles 4-3 over Ma Lin — holding his first blade after signing with Stiga, the Nano OC. It took the original OC structure and added a nano coating to the limba surface, making it harder and springier, with a thickened core. The original OC was thin; the Nano OC gained stiffness and support, no longer a pure looping blade — its blocking and borrowed-pace play got more solid. It still plays fine today.
3. Rosewood 5 (2012)
At the 2012 Qatar Open, in a final full of miraculous shots, Xu Xin beat Wang Hao 4-3 with the Rosewood 5. Back then the team motto was “men on rosewood, women on ebony” — the golden age of hardwood five-plies. The Rosewood 5 is a hardwood five-ply: the hardwood surface gives superior close-table speed and stronger blocking, while looping remains very strong. Today its close-table loop-drive is still fast and spinny, though it feels a touch hollow once you back off. Note Xu Xin’s Rosewood 5 had a teardrop face, so Stiga did make him specials. Around this stage Stiga’s glue seems to have had a breakthrough: a surface as fierce as rosewood somehow delivered powerful blocking and full-blade flex on loops while keeping a clear, through feel.
4. Walnut 5 — “The Python” (2014)
At the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, Xu Xin beat Fan Zhendong 4-2 holding the Walnut 5, a.k.a. “Extreme All-Wood.” I don’t know when the “Python” nickname appeared, but this blade poured fuel on it, because its far-table arc is genuinely strong. Walnut is softer than rosewood, naturally; though its structure is identical to the YEO, it plays far gentler than the YEO at small-to-medium power — warmer, with better bottom-end power away from the table and a stronger far-table arc. Stiga later released a “Xu Xin Limited” built on the Walnut 5.
5. Going Back to the YEO
Through this period Xu Xin’s results wavered, so he occasionally returned to the YEO, as if recalling his younger self. Fans argued fiercely over whether the YEO or the Walnut 5 suited him better — the YEO’s finer, sharper short game could strengthen his over-the-table control, the theory being it might make him the next Ma Lin. In the end he stayed “the Python” and kept the Walnut 5.
6. A Short Trial of the N301
As teammates moved to fiber blades Xu Xin was envious too, and briefly tried the N301 — possibly at the coaching staff’s request as much as for performance, given brand-contract considerations. Compared with the Xu Xin Blue-Stamp he later used, the N301’s backhand ball-holding is actually more comfortable and easier to spin, but the Blue-Stamp’s forehand follow-through power is simply overwhelming.
7. The Legendary Xu Xin Blue-Stamp
Then came the legendary penhold blade of this generation: the Xu Xin Blue-Stamp. Before it, by his own account, he also used the Carbonado Dynasty. Of the two, the Dynasty is crisper at small-to-medium power with slightly faster first-gear speed; the Blue-Stamp loads a touch longer with more bottom-end power but demands more from your stroke — some amateur stars report the Dynasty is easier. At the Tokyo Olympics he used the Blue-Stamp; on the post-Olympic Hong Kong trip he briefly used the Xu Xin Gold-Stamp, then went back to the Blue-Stamp. Performance-wise, the hand-selected Gold-Stamp is springier with faster close-table speed and rebound, but the Blue-Stamp is more comfortable and adjustable. For a “people’s artist,” ferocity isn’t the priority — art is. So whether a blade can be both firm and soft, bending to your will, matters most; otherwise, how would he hit those behind-the-back shots?