Push

A gentle defensive shot hit with backspin, used to successfully return backspin shots. An open racket is used to hit the ball somewhere between the bottom and the back of the ball, which gives more backspin if the ball is skimmed rather than hit solidly.

A push is similar to a chop; however, a chop is performed well away from the table (3 feet or more), usually against a drive or loop from the opponent, whilst a push is performed much closer to the table. Another distinction between a push and a chop is that chops are hit with heavy backspin, whilst pushes are hit with light backspin.