Stiga Offensive Classic - A table tennis blade for OFF Minus players

Stiga Offensive Classic – Test report

After Stiga had a great success with the Allround Classic in 1967, the company decided to produce a faster blade for offensive players. The Stiga Offensive Classic was born and is rigorously keeping its high position on the market since 1976. More than 1 million blades of this type were sold until now.

Technical details

The Stiga Offensive Classic is a blade based on 5 veneers, made of pure wood. Our test blade was the version called "Legend", equipped with a flared-thick handle. The weight of the Stiga Offensive Classic was approx. 86 g.

The head was (height x width) 15.8 x 15.0 cm. The bat appears to be of high quality, and because of the somewhat rough surface of the handle, it feels very good and stable when playing. Due to the manufacturer specifications, it is a stiff All+ blade, suitable for beginners and experts.

Gaming properties of the Stiga Offensive Classic (OC) This blade was tested with a Tenergy 80 and a Nittaku Fastarc G1. My first impression of the Stiga Offensive Classic was very positive.

The supposed high bounce of the ball and a good speed development resulted in a good overall feeling. The center of gravity of the Stiga Offensive Classic is very balanced, right in the middle of the head. Even when hitting the ball slightly out of the center, the good feeling does not change much.

The speed really can keep up with other offensive blades. However, I think that the blade is not as stiff as indicated, since there were vibrations when playing forehand topspins and counter balls.

Offensive game Depending on the individual performance level, there are positive, but also negative aspects. The Stiga Offensive Classic offers good control for all offensive kinds of strokes. Topspins following counters are safe and provide a catapult effect at a good distance regarding the net. The same is true for the game based on backspin and counter topspin. For aggressive counter balls, the blade had to be closed further than being used to. Fortunately, this was just a short matter of getting used to it. This kind of good control, however, also prevents a certain dangerousness, which may be desired in various situations, such as finishing strokes or hard topspins. In these situations, the Stiga Offensive Classic lacked directness.

Serve and return The Stiga Offensive Classic exhibits gaming properties as expected for an attacking game. Especially for long and fast serves, this blade provides sufficient catapult and basic safety. Short and spinny serves initially caused some trouble, which became better with more time to practice and adapt. When hitting balls with sufficient "touch", they were very precise and spinny. Returns showed nothing conspicuous. With the Stiga Offensive Classic, aggressive returns were safe and controlled. Slightly less control was evident when playing aggressive, chopped balls.

Passive game In this category it seems that more training is necessary when using the Stiga Offensive Classic. Due to the high bounce of the ball, it is quite hard to let the ball drop down at short distances. Also, exerting pressure toward the opponent by spinny backspins is hard. This is also true for passive blocks. In addition to further training to get used to this, another solution might be to use slower rubbers. Still, when exactly hitting the ball during spin, the desired development of rotation will develop.

Conclusion to the classic among the Stiga Offensive blades I absolutely agree that the Stiga Offensive Classic is one of the most popular and best-selling blade of all. For players who search for a decision by themselves, but who simply don´t have the time to work out 5 days a week, the Stiga Offensive Classic is a real recommendation. The price-performance ratio is great, and more than 1 million players worldwide cannot be entirely wrong :-)

The Stiga Offensive Classic offers some reserves regarding direct and forward actions. For players preferring this, the Stiga Offensive Classic Carbon might be an option. But still, as mentioned earlier, this blade provided a very positive first impression, so I can truly recommend it.

Stiga Offensive Classic - Executive description from TT-Shop

The Stiga Offensive Classic is one of the most sold blades worldwide. The Swedish company Stiga trusts on its long lasting experience. After the first offensive blades from the European and World Champion series were on the market at the end of the 1960s and at the beginning of the 1970s, respectively, this series were always updated and further developed. Nowadays, this blade is often the best option for players, who search for the perfect transition from the allround style toward the controlled offensive style.

There is not much you can do wrong with the Stiga Offensive Classic. It is an extremely balanced TT blade, which has grown to today´s standard, not only due to the use of carbon. It provides a perfect compromise between speed and control. Many offensive blades cannot keep up with this, since they tend toward decreases in control. The low weight of approx. 85 g also enables its use for kids and adolescents. Five thoroughly chosen veneers, with real Abachi wood as core veneer, guarantees good control and good balance. The special reinforcement, causing a significant difference compared to the Allround Classic, increases the speed at good control. When using the Stiga Offensive Classic, all techniques and strokes are very variable in their application. A real classic, which will never disappear from the market!