Don't get me wrong. You can learn a lot from watching Ma Long also if you're a duel inverted player but my take away from watching them points to more on their ability to loop and hit hard almost any ball from countless hours of training more than I pick up anything strategic.
That being said, I've done most of the hard work for you. You can see my Twiddling Long Pips Penholders playlist here. I add to it as I find players with interesting styles & game.
You can also be on the lookout yourself for these players and look them up should you be able to find any information they provide or matches recorded.
#1:
Name: Jian Jiang Huang or Wang Jian Jiang or 黄建疆 I've seen it translated as both.
Short Pips/Long Pips
Notes:
The grandmaster of this style in my book. If you speak Mandarin you're in luck. He has several videos explaining his techniques. If not, well you're like me and will just have to settle for watching. He was the one I learned most from that good Long Pip play isn't all about just sticking your paddle out there and passively blocking. Watch Jian against almost any backspin ball and he uses that as a long pip attacking opportunity. Attacking backspin with Long Pips I would say is about as easy as attacking topspin with inverted. It should come that natural to you.
#2:
Name: Kento Nomura
Inverted/Long Pips
Notes:
Kento is a good player I like to watch. He's really creative and if there's a possible combination with this style, he's probably tried it. RPB with the inverted when you have the Long Pips on the FH? Yep. RPB Long Pip chop like a modern defender? Seen that several times. Shoot I've even seen him attack a serve with an over the table backhand flip with the Long Pips which seems crazy to me and I don't recommend it but nonetheless, this style is about placement and keeping your opponent guessing. Check out his youtube channel here.
#3:
Name: Wang Qiu Yi Wang or 王秋伊
Inverted/Long Pips
Notes:
The best, hands down, forehand attacking Long Pip player in the world. I've never seen anything like that. Watch her matches (good luck finding one with good video quality) and you will swear she's hitting short pips on that forehand. But she's not. It's long pips. Palio ck531a in fact. My favorite, do everything well LP.
Other honorable mentions. The list can get pretty lengthy and there are more I have but use this to get started. Just look for them on youtube or youku.
- ZHOU XINTONG
- 組彭茂林 (not really a twiddler but you've never seen a RPF with inverted like this before)
- Shang Yuan Yuan
- 楊士賢
- Lay Jian fang
