The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Ganna Gaponova (Ukraine):
Strengths:
nice twiddling of the bat
good use of wrist when chopping or pushing the ball from forehand side (though she seems to have a rubber pimples-in that is not sticky enough)
good forehand smash against high pushes
nice pimples-lifting on pushes down her backhand
nice, short and choppy serves with backhand
Weaknesses:
footwork could be better. Has problems when ball is played fast down the middle or into extreme forehand
no forehand topspin
forehand blocking and smashing technique need reviewing (is not using forearm but arm only)
sometimes overdoing twiddling the bat: twice during two touches of the ball doesn’t make sense
problems controlling the return on tricky serves
maybe wrong choice of long pimples (they don’t seem to produce enough backspin when use in backhand defence)
has a tendancy to chop “round the ball” when confronted with slow but spinny topspins down her forehand
Show try to chop “through the ball” or float back slow and spinny topspins down her forehand
Suggestions:
practice forehand topspin and use it more often
improve footwork
maybe chose different pimples and try to place defence ball nearer to the base line of the table (instead of middle of the table which makes it too easy for the opponent to get in with a big forehand topspin)
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Alina Arlouskaya (Bielorussia):
Strengths:
good footwork
nice versatile attacking skills and instinct: forehand topspins, backhand smashes
good twiddling of the bat, often returning topspins into her forehand with the long pips with heavy chop and pushing with a lot of backspin with her backhand into the forehand of the opponent forcing him to spin the ball up
Weaknesses:
sometimes to rushed to attack all the time once she has started with a forehand topspin
overuse (?) of pimples out when forehand defending
backhand serves only?
pushes too often with backhand from forehand side thus preventing herself from attacking with forehand
even pushes too much from forehand with forehand (at least in the second video)
Suggestions:
get greater variety of serves
defend with floats on forehands with pimples in occasionally
practise lifting the ball up with long pimples down the line with no spin (a lot of attackers don’t like this)
learn to attack pushes with a lot of backspin into her forehand
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”! And just one video is not enough to tell the whole story.
Here comes SATO Hitomi (JPN):
I see a lot of improvement by Sato and think she is currently physically and tactically the best female defender in the world. There are little issues she could still work on:
Long pips rubber. I think there is a material issue here. From what I can see the oponents hardly ever put a topspin into the net and rarely push the ball off the table. So my conclusion is that the long pips do not generate enough backspin. I would recommend considering choppier longpips.
Often backhand defense goes up too high because she takes the ball too high/too early (or the pips don’t “eat” enough of the topspin. This is too often punished by smashes she won’t get back any more.
The forehand chop is still too much “shoveling” technique instead of chopping technique. She is going slowly “round” the ball instead of “cutting” through the ball.
If she gets these issues sorted she will be in the top 5 female in the world 🙂
Eventhough she lost 4:0 here, I can also see a lot of improvement in versatility: Twiddling of the bat, topspins with backhand, blocking with backhand with both rubbers etc. A bit downside is: Too much defending with backhand from forehand side and pushes are too short to put pressure on opponent.
She really improved a lot recently!
Strengths:
good footwork
good backhand serves
good backhand defending
good backhand smash with long pimples
occasionally nice twiddling of the bat
occasionally nice counter topspin with forehand (a bit slow though)
Weaknesses:
forehand defending too often to high
forehand push is a “security push”, not enough backspin on it.
is playing backhand pushes from forehand side too often without need thus preventing herself from attacking with forehand
forehand topspin too undynamic and too inconsistent
to much unforced errors especially on serves as shown in first set here.
not using the chances of attacking long pushes down here forehand
Suggestions:
should practice to chop with forehand low in defending
should use wrist and chop also pushes thus preventing opponent from getting in with fast forehand topspins
should practise greater variety of serves especially with forehand
should develop forehand blocking techniques or counterspinning techniques when confronted with fast topspins down her forehand
should learn to attack more often on passive balls down her forehand side
should learn to twiddle bat to make her pushes more unpredictable for the opponent
should try quick “roll in” serves with long pimples without forward spin (very surprising for most attackers)
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes CHOI Deokhwa (Korea):
Strengths:
Good footwork
Very good forehand Topspin, also against defence.
Good backhand and forehand defence with long pimples
good twiddling of the bat
good variety of serves with both backhand and forehand
Weaknesses:
no surprising attacking with the backhand
often returning the ball too high from his backhand side
not bending his knees enough when having to return a “loaded” ball to his backhand (maybe he has Problems with his knees since he is apparently wearing tapes on both knees?)
forehand counter topspin too inconsistent
defense balls are too often returned down the middle of the table which makes it too easy for the opponent to carry on spinning and smashing
not agile enough when having to return a topspin into his body
Suggestions:
practise placing the defence ball straight into different Corners of the opponent all the time to make him move around
practise defending consistently topspins played into his Body. Try either taking with forehand or getting better footwork to move quickly into Forehand and then defending with backhand side (see expert Masato Shiono!)
get even more versatile serves
practise lifting up the ball with long pimples from backside occasionally to break rhythm of attacker
practise backhand topspin (see Ruben Filus or Muramatsu)
tabletennisdefenders 