Ma Long new blade ?

In the first link, the mod of the "Equipment Discussion" section of pingpang.info, the most popular Chinese TT message board, claims adamently that it's a specially made TG-7.  In the second link, the owner of the entire board states that "经红双喜官方确认，马龙使用底板为天极7板身，劲极3手柄，因此造成了大家的猜疑和误会。" That translates to "as confirmed officially by DHS, Ma Long uses TG-7 blade with PG-3 handle, thus resulting everyone's suspicious and misunderstandings." In the last link, someone said that he's spoken with guys from DHS and they confirmed that it's a specially made TG-7(506).

Lastly, you can see from this picture that he's definitely not even using the PG7's handle.  You can see the big "3" on the handle, indicating it's PG3(image too large to be embedded):

Of course, people don't really know for sure, as the guys from DHS have been pretty mum regarding the issue at least publicly. I think the only true consensus I can gather on the Chinese boards is that you can't simply can't eyeball the DHS products the Chinese pros are using, because there are so much handle-switching and specially made stuff.

bluebucket:  Do you really think Ma Long would use a blade that costs like than $20-40 in China?

Sorry, shoulda realized that hotlinking wouldn't work.  Fixed now.

 

the lens in the handle does not have any 3.

 

i know you never had a power g blade. let me tell you this is the lens of pg 7 and power g series. the last ones.

 

in the lens it is written power g in the colored part of the lens.

 

ma long participates in the dhs pg3 advertisement of the blade some time ago. and maybe there are pictures of the pg3 handle related to ma long blade.

 

but .... the blade ma long is playing with and winning with fits pg7 not pg3. you understand?.

I totally agree with what you've said, but IMO you're looking at it the wrong way.  If he's really using a $10 blade, then that blade won't be $10 anymore because DHS would mark it up to $50+ and people would still buy it.  In other words, it's entirely believable that Ma Long would use a blade that's WORTH $20, but it's not believable that he'd use a blade that COSTS $20.

Handles are often changed for the CNT members, as you mentioned, so whether he uses a blade with a PG7 handle or not is irrelevant IMO.  In fact, if you look at the very high resolution picture I posted, he's not even using the PG7's handle, at least not when that picture was taken(Harmony  China Open I think)

Yea, it could be anything just by looking at it.  Like I mentioned, the only true consensus is that you can't eyeball what the Chinese pros are using.  Heck, there are like a billion different versions of the TG7 just by itself, who knows exactly what they're using?  I'm just passing along what some knowledgeable posters on the Chinese boards believe Ma Long's using.  I mean, if the owner of pingpang.info says that DHS told him Ma Long's using TG7 with PG3 handle, I don't think he'd lie, though the reps from DHS certainly could....  Personally, I believe that these guys are all using custom-made blades that none of us can purchase on the market.