table tennis grips

Alan Unknown Asked 15 years ago

hey!! wats up alois,ive just started table tennis about 3 months ago and i really like it. however i dont know which grip is the best for me. its either the shakehand grip or the reverse penhold backhand grip or the traditional chinese penhold grip where they hit with the same side of the bat to do a backhand. can u also please label the strengths and weaknesses for each grip. 

Cheers, from alan 

Alois Rosario Answered 15 years ago

Hi Alan,

Good to know you are back playing.

Over th epast few years the difficulties with the shakenahd and penhold grips have been ironed out to some extent with the advent of the reverse penhold backhand and the modified grip for serving with the shakehand grip.

The shakehand grip is good for playing both backhand and forehand. The reverse penhold grip can be awkwardstill for players trying to learn it.

The penhold grip though enables you to use your wrist a little easier and alos change your grip to accommodate different situations.

If you are going to use the pehold grip get some rubbe ron the reverse side and have a go at doing the reverse backhand otherwise the grip is limited.

My advice would be to go with the grip that you feel comfortable with.  There are top players in the world using both grips so they are still both genuine options.