Sandpaper-bats
JohnnyD asked 3 years ago
Hello
I hold a tournament a work every month and the fellow who has won it the last 2 months using a Sandpaper bat like what is used for Ping Pong. He is amazing with this bat and give him so much credit for it and feel that he has a disadvantage using against everyones high quality rubbers used on their bats. I think he wins the tournaments because he is a higher level player than everyone else but with that being said he is a bit of a big head which makes me really want to beat him. A couple of other players do have sour grapes but I think that they are bad losers.
Does the Sandpaper bat produce different spin than I should expect like long pimples does? Does this bat put him at a disadvantage? How can I best play against this kind of bat to beat him?
After one tournament we decided to play winner stays on and he had won about 7 games in a row (up to 21) so was possibly a bit tired which is when I actually did win a game against him. I think I used a lot of backspin and Chopped a lot plus my defence was very good in this game. He also did not expect me to beat him as he knocked me out of the tournament . I tried this approach in the last tournament and it did not work again however but it still might be the best chance of beating him. I would love to know your thoughts.
Tom Academy Coach answered 3 years ago
Hi Johnny, yes it can actually be very difficult playing against an experienced player using a sandpaper type bat. The sandpaper produces basically no spin at all so it’s a bit different to long pimples which can have the effect of almost reversing the spin.
With sandpaper it can float back and stay quite low but it’s never got a lot of spin. Pushing with backspin against this is good because it’s hard to attack with a lot of power with sandpaper when the ball is low, then you’ll be looking for the ball that sits up a bit higher to try and attack into the body. This way its harder for him to keep retrieving the ball back.
Being patient is key as well and not rushing to win the points, sometimes good defence and blocking like you said is key to keep you in the points.
Lastly if you can get him wide out at an angle early in the point this could force him back away from the table where it can be harder to play with that type of bat.
Hope this helps and that you can start beating him more regularly!
