Concave vs. Convex Loop (Which is which/better?)

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 king_pong wrote:

 zeio wrote:

This is in fact a legit topic worth digging for.

The Japanese magazine 桌球王国 World Table Tennis has published articles regarding the differences in the loop stroke when playing tacky and grippy rubbers.

It is claimed that the grazing loop stroke is more suited for tacky rubbers, whereas the hitting loop stroke is suitable for high tension or tensor rubbers.

A picture of Wang Liqin pulling off a loopkill is even included.

Parts of those articles have been in wide circulation among various forums.
http://www.pingpang.info/bbs/dispbbs.asp?id=215087&authorid=83433&boardid=2
http://www.pingpang.info/bbs/TopicOther.asp?t=5&BoardID=235&id=201008
http://sundns.org/discuZ/viewthread.php?action=printable&tid=266525

That's great, but what do these threads say?  I saw in the last one that it appeared that they were addressing the issue of blade angle during the stroke (either closing or opening).  It appeared that they were implying that the closing-stroke made a lower trajectory, but I couldn't read the text.  Can you translate? 

For a start, the first two threads are reviews done by a renowned reviewer from Taiwan under the name of 桂花田.  He often cites material from that magazine to support his assertions.  While I find most of those insights informative, certain portrayals within those articles are exaggerated and hence not representative of what is really taking place in reality.  The picture in which the lady demonstrates the service motion where the ball literally rolls over the rubber from end to end is one such depiction, as opposed to this real-world example.

The last one is about how the thread starter feels the European stranglehold on the forehand loop stroke is ruined at the hands of the current crop of loopers, e.g. Boll, Maze etc.  He uses the tacky/grippy image to help illustrate that their having the blade face parallel with the endline of the table as the root cause of poor power and jerky transition, as opposed to the angled contact of the Chinese, when seen from the side.  Yet, the picture of Wang Liqin's loopkill clearly shows otherwise.  What the OP fails to take into account is the fact that different situations call for different strokes.  Shot placement, contact point, body stance and so on all have an effect on one's swing.