Anchor: The South Korean table tennis team has made a bold decision for the upcoming Incheon Asian Games. As a strategy to catch their opponents off guard, the national team has decided to take back the nearly abandoned penhold style, which uses only one side of the racket.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more on the team’s daring move.
 
Report: The South Korean men’s table tennis team ranked number one in the world in the 1980s thanks to their strength in using the penhold style, which is regarded to be a symbol of strong offensive-style table tennis.
 
Today, there is one player who still uses the grip style in South Korea, and he recently filled the last spot on the five-man national team that will compete in the Incheon Asian Games. Lee Jung-woo, a left-handed player, says the penhold grip will help the South Korean team in the games this fall.
 
[Sound bite: Lee Jung-woo, table tennis player who uses penhold grip]
“These days, table tennis is becoming faster. The penhold style has more advantages in making preemptive strikes and will contribute to Team Korea’s victory."
 
However, the penhold style has been regarded as having more weaknesses compared to the shakehand grip style, which uses both sides of the racket.
 
When using a penhold racket, it is difficult for players to quickly respond to their opponents’ attacks since they have to twist their wrists. When counterattacking, penhold grip players also experience greater physical fatigue as they have to make bigger movements to play a forehand drive.
 
Because of these weaknesses, the penhold style has been abandoned by many table tennis players around the world.
 
But South Korea’s national table tennis team chose to take back the style as its main strategy to win the Incheon Asian Games. The team believes they can make a surprise attack as many players on the other teams are only used to the shakehand grip. Ryu Seung-min, the former Olympic champion and current coach of the national team, says the penhold style can be actively used, particularly in team and doubles competitions.
 
[Sound bite: Ryu Seung-min, Coach of South Korea’s National Table Tennis Team]
“The penhold style has a particular advantage in team competitions because of its attack capacity. It works especially well when the opponents are nervous.”
 
Armed with the penhold style, the South Korean national team is aiming to relive past days of table tennis glory during the Incheon Asian Games this September.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.