The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Takeshi Atsuya (Japan):
Strengths:
good footwork
good backhand defense
good forehand attack
good backhand serves
good twiddling of the blade to push with heavy backspin
Weaknesses:
no forehand serves
forehand topspin occasionally too slow and not decisive in winning the point
often decides to attack from backhand side reacting on a forehand topspin when this is not appropriate, taking to much risks and making the decision before actually seeing what is coming
Suggestions:
practise forehand serves
not decide to attack before knowing what is coming
I make a deliberate exception here for a French player  who is  playing “only” in the french second league. He is playing the closest to what I would call the ideal defender style. He is twiddling the bat and uses all rubbers on all sides to defend and to attack. I am sure that if Joo Se Hyuk or Ruwen Filus would adopt his style they would be even better. His “motivational” behaviour is somewhat weird but if you don’t take it too seriously it can also be quite entertaining.
Strengths:
Very versatile playing style
very good backhand topspin
good backhand and very good forehand defense with long pips
consistent pushing with both rubbers on both sides
nice use of long pips on forehand to push-flip the ball and put pressure on the attacker
good footwork
good forehand topspin
Weaknesses:
sometimes having problems with tricky servers
sometimes shouting about also disturbs himself
backhand defense sometimes goes up too high. Wrist use could be improved to prevent this.
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Wang Wei (USA):
Strengths:
good footwork
good forehand topspin against pushes and topspins
good forehand blocking against topspins
good backhand defending
good heavy backspin push with forehand
very good backhand serves
Weaknesses:
not a great variety of forehand serves
no consistent defending of slow spinny topspins down his forehand
has problems with topsins into his body
not twiddling often where it would make sense
backhand block with pips-out not used often enough. The commentator of the first video claims he has short pips, but I doubt this. I would reckon he has medium-long pips. Short pips would have a different flying curve and behaviour when pushing the ball
Suggestions:
get greater variety of serves especially with forehand
occasionally pushing with pips-in on backhand side would make sense
block or smash high pushes with backhand
block slow and high topspins into his backhand more often with pips-out rubber.
practice defending with both forehand and backhand when confronted with topspins into his body
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Gustaf Ericson (SWE):
Strengths :
very versatile and unpredictable playing style. Generally very impressing!
good footwork
good forehand topspin
very good backhand topspin both on pushes and slow topspins
quite a variety of serves on both forehand and backhand
one of the few making use of long pips on forehand when chopping
good backhand defence
nice use of the long pimples when taking serves or messing up game on pushes of opponent
nice twiddling of the bat when it makes sense!
Weaknesses:
serves generally seem to be long all the time (disadvantageous when facing better players)
sometimes attacking too much and too “wild” with backhand from forehand side
trying to smash balls on forehand that are too low and should better be counter topspinned
forehand defense not seen much (hard to say how good it is when needed)
Suggestions:
practice short serves
practice defending with wrist on backhand (wrist is a bit stiff when defending)
when facing better attackers not try to win points all the time by endless counterspinning on forehand (you will lose against better players). Rather defend once in a while.
not rely too much on backhand topspin from forehand side (better players will use “old lefthander tactics”: Play deep down his backhand until he moves there and then push long down forehand
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Nicolas Champod (SUI):
Strengths:
good physical fitness
nice twiddling of the bat
good use of long pips for messing up the game of the attacker
quite versatile style
good use of pips in when pushing with backhand
good variety of serves
good fighting spirit
Weaknesses:
The way he holds the bat! Forefinger too much on middle of the rubber preventing optimal use of wrist when chopping with backhand and dynamic forehand topspin. I know: changing long lasting habits is nearly impossible, but if not the disadvantages will prevail!
long pips seem to have no sponge. This means chop is generally not choppy enough, goes up too easily and pushes bounce too high!
no defending with forehand
forehand push not choppy enough due to grip issue
Suggestions:
change grip
consider using long pips with sponge.
consider occassional chop with forehand with both sides of the bat
practise defending with forehand and pushing with more backspin with forehand
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Fabian Akerström (SWE): I make an exception to the rule here, since in principal Akerström is not a defender in the traditional sense, but an attacker or allrounder which uses long pips and twiddling to break up the game, occasionally defend and thus confuse the attacker.
Strengths:
good forehand topspin
good stopblocking topspins down his backhand thus creating short bouces with lots of backspin
good deceptive use of long pimples in all situations: pushlifting, pushing with topspin, defending with heavy backspin
very complete versatile playing style and nice twiddling of the bat
good backhand topspin
good use of long pips when returning serves into his forehand
good deceptive serves with forehand (heavy chop and no chop looking the same)
Weaknesses:
the limitation of long pips in attacking style is also the main weakness: You can’t really block fast topspins close to the table. The ball will either float back far off the table or simply slip through the bat. Already slight changes of the blocking angle have heavy impact on where the ball goes.
once the opponent has played him a couple of times it becomes more difficult since the pips will have less impact when pushing the ball back
defend generally too high when far off the table because he is standing upgright instead of bending down his knees more
Suggestions:
Should practice defending properly when forced back from the table both backhand and forehand with long pips
learn to use more wrist when chopping slow and spinny topspins
show get to the habit of going down into his legs when forced to defend from far away of the table.
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Gustavo YOKOTA (Brazil):
Strengths:
very good footwork
nice backhand defending with heavy chop with pimples
nice twiddling of the bat using pimples in when pushing the ball into the backhand of opponent
good and consistent forehand topspin with heavy spin
good variety of serves
Weaknesses:
backhand defending on fast topspins could be more consistent , nearly all defending on this goes off the table (not into the net). This is why his long pips rubber seems to fast to me
push with pimples bounced high quite often. This will be punished by better players as you can see in the third video
forehand topspin often too slow to win the rally early
forehand counter topspin too inconsistent, should consider defending more on forehand
too much attacking only on forehand, never defends on forehand which would occasionally make sense
often goes back too early from the table
Serves sometimes bounces too long which is punished by fast topspins from better players.
Suggestions:
practise short serves
practise forehand defending especially with long pimples
try to get into attacking mode with backhand either pushlifting with long pimples or heavy spin with pimples in
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Sas Lasan (Slovenia):
Due to the fact that Lasan apparently is one of the rare defenders that doesn’t use neither short or long pimples nor antispin rubber I would like to mention general advantages and disadvantages of playing with two sides rubber in:
Advantages:
you can also put loads of back spin when pushing the ball thus preventing fast topspins. Precondition is that you are subtle and agile in your wrist.
if you are able to topspin with both sides in addition to defending you will become quite versatile and unpredictable for the opponent
if you are able to you can vary the spin in a very deceptive way mixing heavy chop defense with low floating balls, so that it becomes very difficult for the opponent to read the spin
Disadvantages:
it is hard to defend slow and very spinny topspins. You have a high likelyness that you put the ball far off the table or return it much too high
it is hard to give the same backspin back or even increase it on the topspin you received as you can do with good quality long pips rubbers
when playing weaker players you give away the advantage of confusing the opponent about your own spin when twiddling while pushing back the ball
When using pimples in to defend (same as for short pips) you have to be much faster on your feet in order to be able to return the ball low and on the table.
I just realized that he is using long pips here!
Strengths:
good physical fitness with a long “reach” for a defender
quite versatile being able to attack and defend on both sides
good backhand topspin
good variety of serves
Weaknesses:
main weakness is inconsistent defending from his backhand especially when getting fast topspins
forehand topspin consistent but not a “killer”
physically strong but not very agile/flexible
Suggestions:
should consider changing to pimples on backhand plus practise twiddling to still have the same options as before for attacking (oops I just saw in the second video that he did change to long pips!)
should work on getting away from “shoveling” technique on forehand defending (when using pips out) towards chopping through the ball
In the category of “Retired Masters” I don’t do any analysis.  I added them just for the record. Only for those who don’t Know the history: In the eighties you were allowed to play with unicolour bat on both side. This was giving John Hilton a big advantage since the opponent could not see the difference between Anti-spin-rubber and sticky rubber in. You could only here it. But at the time not only John stumbled with his feet everytime touching the ball trying to prevent the opponent from hearing the difference. Rightly ITTF changed the rules in favor of two colour blades fearing that a “minority sport” like table tennis will  even lose more spectators disliking to see presumably unforced errors. Also you can observe the “unfair” advantage of a serve played right out of the palm of the hand (without throwing up the ball at all).
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Artur Abusev (Russia):
I have to correct a bit the following. I think his attacking, physical fitness and versatility improved a lot. One main weekness to me is wrong material. He seems to be using short pips, which are not choppy enough when defending, often go long and high and have problems returning smashes. The few blocking abilities of short pips do not make up for the lack of backspin in defending in my view.
Strengths:
very good footwork and physical fitness
powerful forehand topspin
consistent defending with long pips on backhand
consistent pushing with backhand with pips-in
good fighting spirit and ambition
Weaknesses:
generally too much defending and too much pushing with backhand even from extrem forehand side thus preventing himself from opportunities to attack with forehand
almost pushing with pips-in all the time when pushing with backhand thus making it too easy for the opponent to know what backspin he gets
forehand defending often too high because he rather uses a “shoveling” technique instead of chopping technique (going round the ball too much instead of cutting “through” it)
underuse of longpips on backhand when pushing
underuse of longpips on his forehand when confronted with heavy slow topspins down his forehand
underuse of his very good and spinny forehand topspin, mainly because of pushing with backhand all over the table
not showing a great variety of serves. The forehand serve and backhand serve look very much the same all the time
Suggestions:
should practise more versatile serves especially the ones that occasionally will enable him to attack right after the serve with his forehand
should practice chopping with forehand instead of “shoveling”
should try to use long pips when pushing with backhand or defending with forehand
should practise aggressively pushing with longpips into corners or take the pushball occasionally very early to give opponent less time to move for his topspin
practise lifting the ball with longpips on pushes and heavy spin backhand topspin
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Paulius Gura (Lithuania):
Not much you can tell of course from just one short video.
Strengths:
good, but not tremendous footwork
nice placement of return on serves and pushes with backhand
get a load of backspin when defending with backhand
Weaknesses:
forehand generally too weak and inconsistent
forehand counter topspin from behind the table too slow, too high and too inconsistent
forehand pushing too inconsistent and too high
forehand defending is more “shovelling” the ball back (too high most of the time) instead of chopping it back low and with heavy backspin
Suggestions:
practise forehand in all variations
practise forehand serves
from sound and speed of the racket I would derive that the blade is too slow for modern defending. Should consider getting faster one and the adopt own style to defend with faster blade.
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)
Thanks to Felix pointing me to this talented player. As for cadets I put a bit more effort into the analysis. Nevertheless: The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Maxim Chaplygin (RUS):
Strengths:
very good footwork
nice and versatile twiddling of the bat especially making good use of pimples in sticky rubber and pushing stop balls back with heavy chop into the backhand side of the attacker making it difficult for him to get in with a first fast topspin
very good and choppy backhand defence
side spinny forehand defence can be a good change when achieving to get it back low enough
good variety of forehand and backhand serves
occasionally achieves deceptive “floats” when defending with his forehand making the attacker think the ball has loads of spin and hitting it far off the table.
Weaknesses:
generally going to fast to far away from the table. He often gets problems with slow spinny and very short topspins because he is too far away from the table.
often returning forehand defence too high
side spin forehand defence too often placed to forehand side or middle of the table, should go to backhand side occasionally, too.
moves to often to his forehand side to push with the backhand without real need for it. Thus giving away chances to attack with his forehand.
forehand topspins very consitent and spinny but not fast enough to occasionally directly win the point with it. Most attackers can easily block it back.
often returning serves into his backhand too high (mostly with the pimples)
occasionally pushing the ball too predictably always down the backhand side of the opponent (when right-handed)
Suggestions:
try to stay closer to the table thus giving the opponent less time to react when defending
practise returning serves into his backhand more consistently low and place them pricesly into different places on the opponents side.
just push with backhand side when ball is in backhand side or middle of the table not from forehand side. Try to get to the habit of attacking every long push into his forehand as do the better high level defenders.
try to return slow and spinny topspins down his forehand with long pimples. The return will be loaded with backspin and cause a lot of problems to many attackers.
practise aggressive push balls right after the bounce with backhand long pimple rubber down the forehand side of the attacker when he is placing himself rather into his backhand or middle of the table in order to attack with his forehand.
practise this (very effective, but not often used by defenders!): When confronted with a push ball into the forehand side, use long pimples, put blade upright down and aggressively push it once hard down the forehand side and as a variation turning the wrist in the last second and pushing it hard down the backhand. This will cause a lot of trouble to most players due to surprise effect and unusual bounce of the ball!
try to practise either backhand topspin on pushes with pimples in or “pushlifting” the ball fast down the forehand side with the long pimples.
practise counterspinning topspins into his forehand ideally with heavy side spin as a variation to always defending only with forehand.
should also learn to block with his backhand side when confronted with with slow topspins down his backhand in a predictable manner like in the cadet final. One has to generally work on skills of disrupting the rhythm of attackers who are good in spin / push / spin / push – tactics as Polansky did in a very clever manner.
The following observations are of course my personal view and do not claim to be the “truth”!
Here comes Jian Fei Sun (Canada):
Strengths:
Good and very versatile use of the long pimples. Also using them on the forehand to push-chop on the table thus confusing and putting pressure on the attacker.
Very Good footwork
Very good forehand topspins with loads of spin and sidespin
can also play lefthanded if need is
Weaknesses:
Forehand serves do not show a great variety and seem to me to be on the edge of being correct: Look like he hits the ball behind the body (as a lot of the pros unfortunately do without being corrected by the umpires)
backhand defence too inconsistent. He misses too many or puts them back too high.
Overuses the pimples on forehand side when taking serves.
Generally being a bit vulnerable to tricky forehand serves.
Suggestions:
practice greater variety of serves, especially with backhand
get more consistence in defending with the backhand in the long distance defence
try to use rubber in more often with heavy chop on opponents serve
tabletennisdefenders 