Sun Yingsha Equipment Setup: The W968-18 and Her Complete Gear

Sun Yingsha is the dominant force in women's table tennis. Born in 2000, the Chinese right-hander has held the world number one ranking in women's singles continuously since February 2022 — a run that includes the 2023 World Championships title in Durban, Paris Olympics silver, and multiple WTT titles. She is fast, explosive, technically complete, and mentally unshakeable — the closest women's table tennis has to Ma Long in terms of sustained dominance at the top.

Her equipment tells a story of deliberate, systematic choices. From her early Stiga years through the pivotal switch to DHS and the W968-18, to her current S968 "Hurricane Sha" signature blade, every transition reflects a player pushing her ceiling higher. What makes her setup remarkable is the same quality that defines Wang Chuqin and Ma Long: a full all-Chinese double tacky rubber configuration that almost no player outside the Chinese national team dares to attempt. Here is the complete breakdown.

Sun Yingsha's Current Setup at a Glance (2025)

Source: Equipment observations by PingSunday / EmRatThich, confirmed at WTT Singapore Smash 2024 and WTTC Finals Doha 2025. Sun Yingsha's personal rubbers use custom topsheet and sponge compounds not identical to commercial versions.

The W968-18: The Blade That Changed Everything

The DHS W968-18 is one of the most significant blades in Sun Yingsha's equipment history, and the reason her name is now directly associated with the W968 family. When she made the jump from Stiga to DHS and appeared with this blade at the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships Finals, it was the clearest possible signal that Sun Yingsha was committing fully to a Chinese national team configuration — same blade architecture as Ma Long, same philosophy, same path.

The "18" designation is critical. The W968-18 is not the standard W968 that Ma Long uses. It is the national version of the Hurricane Long 5X — a modified construction featuring a larger core and a thinner outer ply compared to the original HL5 architecture. This makes the blade more balanced and more responsive on the backhand side, giving female players — who tend to rely more heavily on two-wing attack than forehand-dominant male players — a configuration better suited to their game. The result is a blade that retains all the woody feel and dwell time of the W968 family while being meaningfully faster on the backhand without losing control.

W968-18 Specifications

W968-18 vs W968 (Ma Long version): What's the Difference?

The smaller head and more balanced distribution of the W968-18 is particularly meaningful for women's table tennis, where the exchanges are faster and the margin between forehand and backhand usage is narrower than in men's play. Sun Yingsha is not a player who waits for her forehand — she attacks just as readily from the backhand side, and her blade reflects this.

👉 DHS W968-18 Sun Yingsha — Standard Version

👉 DHS W968-18 Sun Yingsha N°1 — Personal Blade

From W968-18 to S968 "Hurricane Sha"

After establishing herself with the W968-18, DHS developed a fully personalized signature blade for Sun Yingsha — the S968, officially named the "Hurricane Sha" (where "Sha" refers to her given name "YingSha"). Debuted at the WTT Singapore Smash 2024 and confirmed again at the WTTC Finals Doha 2025, the S968 carries the same foundational 5+2 inner ALC architecture, now tuned specifically for her game. The distinctive purple handle with dragon design and her portrait has become instantly recognizable on the international circuit.

The S968 is a further evolution of what the W968-18 established: a blade that gives the same woody feel and control as the W968 family, faster than Ma Long's version, and calibrated for a player who relies on quick transitions and consistent two-wing attack from close to mid-distance. In function, the transition from W968-18 to S968 mirrors the logic of Wang Chuqin's move from W968 to Q968 — same architecture, personal fine-tuning to the athlete's exact specifications.

👉 DHS Sun Yingsha Personal Blade — S968

Forehand Rubber: Hurricane 3 National — Blue Sponge (41°)

Sun Yingsha's forehand rubber is the DHS Hurricane 3 National in the blue sponge version, at 41° — one degree softer than the 42° used by Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, and Wang Chuqin. The difference is small but deliberate: slightly softer sponge increases dwell time fractionally and makes the rubber more forgiving at high looping speeds, which suits the compact, close-to-table style Sun Yingsha employs. The rubber is applied at 2.1mm thickness and boosted — maintaining the ITTF maximum thickness threshold while benefiting from the elasticity that boosting provides on a tacky rubber.

The forehand is Sun Yingsha's primary finishing weapon. Her forehand loop is technically one of the most explosive in women's table tennis — generated from a short, compact swing with exceptional wrist acceleration — and the tacky surface of the Hurricane 3 National maximizes the sidespin and topspin she can transmit to the ball. Opponents who receive her forehand consistently report difficulty reading its trajectory, even when anticipating the shot direction. The heavy tack is central to this unpredictability.

👉 DHS Hurricane 3 National Edition — Blue Sponge

👉 DHS Hurricane 3 Neo National Edition — Blue Sponge

Backhand Rubber: Hurricane 3 National — Orange Sponge (~37.5°)

The backhand rubber choice is what makes Sun Yingsha's setup distinctive even within the Chinese national team. She uses DHS Hurricane 3 National on the orange sponge at approximately 37.5°, a notably hard configuration for a backhand rubber at the elite level. Most female players at the top of the rankings who use Chinese rubber on the forehand will still opt for a tensor rubber on the backhand — Butterfly Dignics 09C, Dignics 05, or Tenergy variants — to compensate for the lower natural speed of tacky rubbers on the backhand wing.

Sun Yingsha made a different calculation. She switched from Butterfly Tenergy 05 to DHS Hurricane 8 first, then transitioned to Hurricane 3 orange sponge — progressively harder and stickier — because, as tracking by PingSunday notes, the Chinese national team coaches determined that the harder, more consistent rubber was less sensitive to incoming spin and gave better control at the high loop speeds generated by top Chinese players. Against players who spin the ball heavily — which at the top level means almost everyone — a tacky backhand rubber returns topspin more predictably than a tensor, even at the cost of natural speed.

At 37.5°, her backhand sponge is soft enough to keep the rubber manageable for the quick backhand-to-backhand exchanges that define modern women's table tennis, while still giving the tacky topsheet enough sponge resistance to generate meaningful spin on loops. It is a demanding rubber to use — but it is the rubber that has helped her dominate women's singles for three consecutive years.

👉 DHS Hurricane 3 National Edition — Orange Sponge

Sun Yingsha's Complete Equipment History

Phase 1: The Stiga Years (2018–2021) — Building on Carbonado 45

Sun Yingsha's formative competitive years were built on the Stiga Carbonado 45, a blade widely adopted among Chinese female players for its balance of speed and controllability. During this period she paired it with a classic hybrid setup: DHS Hurricane 3 National on the forehand for spin generation, and Butterfly Tenergy 05 on the backhand for pace and accessibility. This combination took her to world number two and through her silver medal performance at the Tokyo Olympics — proof that a hybrid setup, when executed at her level of technique, is already more than sufficient to win at the top of women's table tennis.

Phase 2: The DHS Transition — W968-18 and Double Hurricane (2021–2023)

Sun Yingsha's switch to DHS in 2021 was a defining moment. The W968-18 gave her access to the same blade family used by Ma Long — a statement of ambition and a signal that she was aligning with the top end of the Chinese national team philosophy. The simultaneous transition from Tenergy to Hurricane on the backhand completed her move to a fully all-Chinese configuration. The 2021 World Table Tennis Championships Finals was where this setup was first seen in competition, and it immediately delivered results: she has been world number one continuously since February 2022. For her official ranking and title history, the WTT official rankings page provides the most current data.

Phase 3: The S968 Era — A Blade Built for Her (2023–Present)

The S968 "Hurricane Sha" is the natural conclusion of Sun Yingsha's DHS journey — a blade where every parameter has been dialed to her specific requirements. The purple handle, the "S" for "ShaSha" code, the dragon design and portrait on the handle: these are not just marketing details, they represent a formal, long-term partnership between DHS and their most visible female ambassador. Her rubber configuration has remained constant through this entire period — blue sponge Hurricane 3 forehand, orange sponge Hurricane 3 backhand — confirming that what changed was the blade precision, not the rubber philosophy.

Why This Setup Works: Playing Style Analysis

Sun Yingsha is a right-handed, close-to-table two-wing attacker. She is neither purely forehand-dominant like Chen Meng nor backhand-dominant in the way younger players like Shin Yubin tend to play. Her strength is transition — the speed and decisiveness with which she moves from defence to attack, from backhand loop to forehand kill, and from slow service rallies to explosive mid-rally attacks. Her footwork is elite; she steps around for forehand more efficiently than almost any other female player in the world.

The blade: balanced speed for close-table exchanges. The W968-18 and its successor S968 give Sun Yingsha the natural rebound she needs to play close to the table without sacrificing spin generation. A slow blade at the close-table position means overswinging on every shot — exhausting and technically risky. A blade that contributes natural pace lets her use a shorter, more controlled swing and maintain position density throughout long rallies.

The forehand rubber: spin and topspin variation. The blue sponge Hurricane 3 at 41° gives Sun Yingsha's forehand its signature quality — heavy, kicking topspin with extreme spin rate. Against defensive players or players who push long, the tacky surface generates more ball rotation than any tensor rubber could at the same swing speed. This is the rubber that makes her forehand from mid-distance one of the most difficult shots to counter-loop at the top level.

The backhand rubber: control, consistency, and spin resistance. Tacky orange sponge on the backhand means Sun Yingsha's backhand is more controlled and more spin-resistant than a tensor-equipped equivalent. When she plays close to the table and receives high-spin loops, a tacky rubber grips the incoming spin and redirects it reliably — a tensor at the same position would be more sensitive and create more unforced errors. The trade-off in raw speed is compensated by her blade and by the aggressive short swing she uses on backhand loops from close range.

What You Can Actually Buy: Getting Close to Sun Yingsha's Setup

Tier 1: The Full Sun Yingsha Experience

Tier 2: Setup Hybride (Recommandé pour la majorité des joueurs avancés)

C'est exactement le parcours qu'a suivi Sun Yingsha elle-même — Hurricane 3 en coup droit, Tenergy 05 au revers — avant de basculer vers le full-chinois lors de son passage chez DHS. Si ce setup a suffi pour atteindre les finales olympiques et les sommets du circuit WTT, il est difficile d'argumenter que le revers tensor soit une concession. C'est une base solide.

👉 Parcourez l'ensemble de notre collection caoutchoucs DHS et nos lames DHS grades national et provincial

Is Sun Yingsha's Setup Right for You?

✅ Consider this setup if:

— Vous jouez proche de la table avec une attaque sur deux côtés — forehand et backhand utilisés de façon quasi équivalente

— Vous valorisez le contrôle et la résistance au lift entrant plutôt que la vitesse brute du revers

— Vous avez déjà de l'expérience sur caoutchoucs collants et savez activer Hurricane correctement

— Vous cherchez une lame inner ALC offrant un meilleur équilibre côté revers que le W968 standard

— Vous jouez au niveau régional ou national et cherchez à maximiser la variation de spin dans vos échanges

❌ Ce setup n'est pas adapté si :

— Votre revers est principalement un outil de bloc ou de contre — un tensor vous donnera bien plus

— Vous n'avez jamais utilisé de caoutchouc collant sur le revers — le timing est significativement différent d'un tensor

— Vous êtes encore en développement technique — commencez par le Tier 2 hybride et progressez

— Vous jouez à mi-table ou fond de table — la configuration double collant est optimisée pour un jeu de table rapproché

Conclusion

Sun Yingsha's equipment is one of the most complete all-Chinese setups in women's table tennis, and the W968-18 is the blade that started it all. When she made the switch from Stiga Carbonado 45 to the DHS W968-18 and simultaneously committed to double Hurricane rubbers, she was not just changing gear — she was committing to a philosophy of control, spin, and tactile feedback over raw European-style speed. That commitment, maintained and refined through the S968 era, has produced one of the longest number one reigns in women's singles history.

For players who want to follow this path, the W968-18 remains one of the most well-rounded inner ALC blades available — better balanced than Ma Long's W968, faster from the backhand side, and proven at the highest level of women's competition. Paired with Hurricane 3 National on the forehand and a tensor or orange sponge Hurricane on the backhand, it provides a genuine foundation for advanced, spin-focused table tennis.

Not sure which configuration suits your game? Contact us — nous vous aidons à trouver le setup adapté à votre niveau et votre style. Conseils personnalisés, toujours gratuits.