Table tennis styles

Table tennis is unique among racket sports in that it supports a large variety of different styles of players. As players' levels increase, the diversity of styles decreases slightly, because technically weak styles are quickly eliminated; but, even at the very top of international table tennis, there is a large number of dramatically different styles to be found. As of 2010^[update], attacking styles dominate most of the top places in the world. However, this may be due to the relative popularity of attack over defense, as defensive players are still able to reach the final stages of international competition.

This article describes some of the most common table tennis styles seen in international competition. These are stereotypes and almost all players possess some combination of these styles, with a few added "special" shots of their own.

Competitive table tennis players grip their rackets in a variety of ways. The manner in which competitive players grip their rackets can be classified into two major families of styles; one is described as penhold and the other shakehand. The Laws of Table Tennis do not prescribe the manner in which one must grip the racket, and numerous variations on gripping styles exist.

Penhold styles have suffered in recent years due to their inherent weakness on the backhand side. This weakness makes it much harder for penhold beginners to perform well against their shakehand counterparts. However, this has not stopped the top penhold players from winning the World Championships, the World Cup and the Olympic games regularly, as the backhand weakness can be covered adequately with excellent footwork, or supplemented with the recent reverse penhold backhand loop innovation.

Possibly the oldest surviving grip since the table tennis racket took its current shape. This is similar to a tennis grip with the index finger extended over the racket head perpendicular to the handle. This grip allows almost even power distribution over forehand and backhand shots, but has a wider crossover point in between.

Virtually all European players and roughly two thirds of Asian players use this grip.

Although the vast majority of the players grip the racket in one of the two styles above, there are some curious grips that have not proven their effectiveness in the higher level yet, and are very rare.

Penhold loopers utilise the forehand topspin loop as their primary shot. This type of player usually exhibits excellent footwork, trying to use the forehand to cover the entire table. Compared with shakehand loopers, penhold loopers have a shorter reach and try to stay close to the table even during power exchanges. Notable penhold loopers are 1981-83 World Champion Guo Yuehua, 1988 Olympic Gold Medalist Yoo Nam-kyu, 1992 Olympics Men's Doubles Gold Medalist Lü Lin, 1992 Olympics Bronze medalist Kim Taek-soo, 2001-03 World Men's Doubles Champion Yan Sen, 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Ryu Seung-min, 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Ma Lin, 2009 World Champion Wang Hao, and 2015 Men's and Mixed Doubles Champion Xu Xin.

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