Styles in Table Tennis

This article is all about different types of grips or playing styles preferred by the advanced players in the world of table tennis. Remember that there is no rule of holding racket, bat or paddle by ITTF. You can grip it in any way you like. Competitive players grip it in many ways but mainly two types of grips are more popular. They are shake-hand style and pen-hold style. In course of history of table tennis we have seen some unfamiliar grips like seemllier grip, V grip and pistol grip. Sadly these grips are not seen much at higher level of play. It would be unfair to say that these styles of play are inferior because there are few users of it and are less seen in big events. Anyway one should choose the grip with what one is comfortable with and not which is popular.

Shake-hand style
It is oldest type and most popular type of grip in ping-pong. It is quite an easy grip to play with. Here we grip the racket just like hand shaking; the index finger is extended along the bottom of the racket, with the thumb being relaxed on the blade or rubber. The bottom three fingers are used to grip the handle. There are two types of it.
Shakehand shallow grip- here the thumb is placed on handle, generate more power.
Shakehand deep grip-here the thumb is placed on rubber.
As said earlier, this style of play is easy to learn with and the player hits the ball comfortably on forehand and backhand but they have disadvantage of hitting the ball coming to their body. At professional level players get expert in it. These players stay close to the table. They don’t need to move much. They comfortably hit different types of shorts like loop, counter drive chopper etc. More than 85% players opt for this style all over the globe. In India more than 95% players are shakehanders. The Europeans were dominating in 40s and 50s with this style and currently they stand same with other type grips.

Penhold style
As the name implies, this grip is similar to holding a pen for writing. The thumb and index finger hold on to the racket handle, while the other three fingers curl or spread around the back of the racket. It is bit difficult to grip in and play for hours. Also they learn and progress slow as compared to their shakehand counterparts. It seems to be frustrating for these grip players at beginner level but it don’t prove to be an inferior style. Also they have disadvantaged in backhand but strong at forehand and near their body. They have to turn their wrist, hand and body in an unnatural way to hit at backhand. Reply to topspin at backhand is tough for them. The backhand weakness can be covered adequately with excellent footwork, or supplemented with the recent reverse penhold backhand loop innovation. They should posses higher stamina and cover most of table at forehand. They are good and natural spinners of ball. Nevertheless, penholders dominated from 60s to 90s in this sport. Now they are still competing well at various events. This style is categorized in three types.

Traditional Chinese Grip – last three fingers curl around the back of the racket, easy in push and block at backhand.

Japanese/Korean Grip –The fingers on the back of the bat are extended straight out rather than curled. It adds power at forehand shorts. They can generate more spin but have restricted movement at backhand

Reverse Penhold Backhand (RPB) Grip- Here the back of the penhold bat is used to hit the backhand. Typically the fingers are held in a similar fashion to the traditional Chinese penhold grip. It is a new innovation by Chinese. Drawback at backhand is reduced.

Minor styles
Seemiller grip-In the Seemiller grip, the racket is held similarly to the shakehand grip, but with a 90 degree turn so that the thumb and index finger are used to grip the sides of the bat. Both forehand and backhand are played with the same side of the bat, although the bat can be turned to use the other side. It is typically used with a combination bat.
V Grip-The V grip in table tennis is so called because the blade is held between the index and middle fingers, which are spread apart similar to the ‘V for Victory’ sign to begin with. The index and middle fingers are then curled down to grip the blade, while the last two fingers wrap around the handle. The thumb is placed where comfortable.
Whatever type of grip you may have, you can still be a champion. It is totally unfair to say any form of grip is superior and history has shown us that. At current situation experts never consider any style as superior. People like you and give you respect when u play well and win not of style you posses. I am a penholder and people gave respect when I won matches but was criticized at beginning for my style. so be a champion and prove yourself.