koew wrote: on Monday 01 January 2024, 17:04
Because of aging I am trying become a close to the table blocker. Used to be an away from the table chopper.
But thinking of Manika Batra I tend to think that she has reached the saturation point with most of her skills including twiddling & at the table blocking.
This has become sort of predictable. She lost in the first round in Indian Nationals this year & also similar in last year nationals . Also mostly because most Indian women are now imitating her with Dtec backhand.
But Manika has some advantages in that she is tall with a wide reach & she is definitely athletic enough. So I would tend to think maybe she must do more chopping combining it with her close to the table blocking , such as chop a few ball & suddenly come in and block wide to opponent's forehand (using her inverted on the backhand for speed) as soon as the opponent has stepped around & gets comfortable against the chop. The Dtec is good enough to be able chop decently unless she is going to switch to a super long pips. (The REAL GOAT of all of table tennis, Joo Saehyuk himself tried to use Dtec for a while) . This is the style I would play now if I was younger & less stupid . Of course this mix of chopping & blocking style is easier said than done & not an easy style to master . Otherwise every chopper or athletic blocker would be doing it LOL
Also there are some players who are notoriously weak against the chop & Manika should be able to beat them easier.
Other players she can torture them with a strategic mix of chopping & blocking depending on the opponent
She definitely needs to further diversify her game with a bigger stroke arsenal.
Otherwise as it stands now I will be shocked if she gets any better in the rankings. It is sort of the same old same old. I do give her lot of credit for improving her twiddling game later on in her career though.
I never meant to say she must chop full time. If I meant to say that I would have suggested that she must switch to a chopping type long pips like KTL Stranger or Feint Long 3 (If she wants to stict with long pipss on ITTF LARC which are absolurtely useless in the 40+ plastic ball ONLY era due to the 9 rule and regulation changes by ITTF since 1983 to oppress defenders). That is why I clearly even said the Dtec is good enoughDiegoX wrote: replied on Tuesday 02 January 2024, 00:44
I’m respectfully disagree about chopping. Actually if she goes far from the table,
I only suggested that she must play a strategic mix of chopping & blocking
My point was exactly opposite. There is no surprise. Everyone knows her blocking style. As I pointed out every Indian woman is imitating her. As a result she lost in the first round in Indian nationals & also before .DiegoX wrote:her game will lost the surprise that come from a fast answer close to the table.
On the other hand a strategic mix of chopping & blocking would be the surprise as compared to just blocking.