Wu Yang

Andrew T Asked 14 years ago

So I was watching some of the Junior World Championships on the ITTF website and found it interesting that the top Girl was a defensive player from China. Don't get me wrong I find it a fascinating and entertaining style to watch, but I was wondering what you thought about the top Junior being a chopper and why China would train their best player in that style if they are already the best by using an offensive game. Is this just another one of their ways of showing that they are the best, regardless of style (90% use shakehands but 2 of their top 3 are penhold...etc)? Have you seen any of the tournament?

-Andrew T

Alois Rosario Answered 14 years ago

Hi Andrew,

I haven't seen her play much, but defenders are more successful i nhte womens game than the mens and especiaaly in the younger girls because the strength of the girls hasn't developed as yet.

You may find that she doesn't progress as fast from here as her attacking friends.

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Andrew T Posted 14 years ago

That still doesn't answer the question of why China would train her in such a way. If they know it is eventually not going to be effective, why train her as a chopper? To give her teammates practice in the future?

Les Unknown Posted 14 years ago

She probably naturally plays that way. I don't think it would be too good to try and force an attacking style of play on someone if they wanted to play defensively. Also China already have 5 women in u21 that are ranked higher than her that all have an attacking style so it wouldn't be too much of a problem. I've seen her in the Junior world championships and I think she could have the potential to be top 10 in the world. Kim Kyung Ah ranked 9th is a good example of this.

Kronos Chow Posted 14 years ago

Even though China does have a lot of high ranking attackers, it is meaningful to have some defenders as well.

Firstly, as you say, keeping choppers allow China's own attackers to practice against such style.

Secondly, having players of different styles make it difficult to beat all China players. If a player suddenly rise to defeat all Chinese attackers, he may still have problem vs defender

Jack Mills Unknown Posted 14 years ago

Fan Ying is a great example of female chopping too.