Ask The Experts: Nan Li, No. 46
Butterfly Table Tennis Question and Answer

Question: I am an amateur table tennis player (Chinese penhold) at medium level. My style is quick attack plus loop (forehand). My backhand is traditional push and block. Perhaps I will learn loop for backhand (rubber on the other side) in the future. My top priority is ball control and then ball speed and spin. I read some articles and butterfly blade introduction. It seems TAKSIM blade suitable to me. My question is which butterfly rubber I should use?

• What are differences between Bryce, Tenergy and Sriver rubber?
• Is Tenergy 25 better than Tenergy 05? Tenergy 64 better than Tenergy 25?
• Tenergy 25 FX rubber is softer than Tenergy 25. Why both have same speed and spin (speed 13.25 and spin 11.0)?
• Is Tenergy 25 FX better than Tenergy 25 in ball controlling?
• When I use Free Chack II to glue butterfly rubber to TAKSIM blade, how many millimeter (ml) do I need for one side?

Your expertise and help are really appreciated.
Regards Shen

Answer: Hi Shen,

Thanks for your question and interest in Butterfly equipment.

First of all the rubbers you are inquiring about are all great rubbers but have different playing characters and different purposes. I recommend for you to try the Tenergy 25 FX for your forehand and the all time classic Sriver rubber for more control on your backhand, since you are new to the reversed backhand.

The difference between Sriver, Bryce and Tenergy are quite simple. All 3 rubbers are the most popular stables in their own eras. The Sriver rubber is still the all time classic which was established in 1967 and provides great control along with good spin. The Bryce rubber came into the market in the 90’s and became very popular due to the extreme high tension of the rubber top sheet which resulted in an increase of spin and speed.

After changing to the 40 mm ball in 2008 the Tenergy rubber came on the market and since then, is the leading rubber among top players in the world.

The unique Spring Sponge technology paired with the high tension rubber top sheet makes this rubber extremely spinny and fast while still providing great control.

To give you a explanation of the different rubbers. All the FX versions of the rubbers have a softer sponge which provide more control and higher ball trajectories than a non FX version. It also makes it easier to generate spin with.

In order to find the best Tenergy rubber for your game you have to determine your playing style. The closer you play to the table the harder the density of the rubbers (Tenergy 25/ lowest ball trajectory or Tenergy 05 2nd lowest ball trajectory). The Tenergy 64 and Tenergy 80 are more for mid distance play and are developed for different ball trajectories (Tenergy 64 higher and Tenergy 80 lower).

Regarding the right amount of glue, I suggest the size of a quarter dollar on both the rubber and the blade to make sure that the rubber will stick to the blade and doesn’t come off.

Hope you find this helpful and enjoy your new equipment!

Best,
Nan Li
Coach @ WCTTA
www.tt-champions.com