All England 2021 Controversy regarding the Indonesian squad

I was watching the All England 2021 and noticed that the squad from Chian and Indonesia were missing from the competition. 

An interesting but unfortunate incident mars the All England 2021.

Following a confirmed case of positive Covid-19 in the airplane, shared by the Indonesian squad, badminton England in effect quarantined the Indonesian squad from further competing in the tournament. 

Already missing the powerhouse squads from Indonesia, South Korea and China, this year saw weaker competition of players resulting in Japan dominating the games in the semi-finals.

Excerpts from the BBC:

[However, they discovered the UK Government's legislation regarding self-isolation periods was "non-negotiable".

Men's top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo defeated England's Matthew Clare and Ethan van Leeuwen in the opening round, but the result will remain unchanged.

As with all instances of an Indonesian player or pair winning a match prior to the withdrawal, their next scheduled opponent will now receive a walkover and advance to the next round.

Zainudin Amali, Indonesia's sports minister, has asked the BWF to investigate the matter and suggested the decision to exclude the team is "unfair".

"It wasn't their fault, but they're bearing the brunt," he said.

"I urge the (Indonesia badminton) association to take measures to question BWF and its Asia federation so that people know that we won't stand for it. We feel the injustice in our players."]

Badminton cold turkey

 It has been almost a year since I played badminton, courtesy of Covid-19.

Naturally I am having cold turkey now, binging on watching past badminton matches on YouTube. 

How do you guys fix your badminton cold turkey?

Please share?

Importance of understanding arch of your feet

A common problem in running is foot injury. 

Badminton like running can leave one susceptible to foot injuries. 

In particular, the arch of your feet is an area prone to injury. 

Human feet can be categorized into 3 types: neutral, high arch and flat foot (or no arch). 

The arch on your feet can affect the biomechanics of motion and how much stress is placed on your joints particularly the plantar fascia and the various ligaments/muscles/tendons at the ankle area. 

As badminton involves a lot of standing on the balls of your feet and landing on high impact via lunges and jumps, the joints are in constant dynamic motion. 

To mitigate risk of acute injury or chronic (overused) injury, proper footwear is important. 

A high arch can cause underpronation but can be mitigated by shoes with a lot of cushioning to avoid strong impact. See below:

A flat feet type can cause overpronation but can be mitigated by shoes with structured or cushioning shoes. Reference: Here 

Another thing that can mitigate the risk of injury is the lacing pattern as can be seen here: Lacing guide

As always, happy playing badminton and keeping your feet happy.

Badminton grassroots in Indonesia

Ever wonder why Indonesia is so good in badminton? 

Well, it starts at the grassroots, kids motivated to play competitively.

At this clip by KompasTV, kids from various cities from all over Java & other islands of Indonesia taking part for the audition in the city of Kudus... 

The selected kids from the audition gets the scholarship to train in badminton sponsored by the cigarette company, Djarum.

The large pool of young players and interest to better their lives ensures Indonesia remains a badminton powerhouse.

In part, Indonesia has a great badminton tradition and interest from all layers of Indonesian society in badminton.

Having visited Indonesia many times and played with the locals, Indonesia is a great badminton country to watch competitive badminton and play badminton.

There are many private clubs in Indonesia and the support and participation is very high. 

Post Covid-19 badminton

The year 2020 is the great lockdown.

Badminton social games, competition and tournaments are put on hold...

Many changes are included in competition, particularly greetings like hand shake.

More to follow...

Singapore Open 2019 Press Conference and earlier rounds

Managed to get a ticket for 11th Thursday game, cheapest seat, costing SGD21.

After coming back from Malaysia Open 2019, I find the price a bit high.

The sponsors of the tournament is Li-Ning.

This year, the security are pretty strict with video, selfie and professional photographers.

Perhaps, too many fans were taking selfies with the players in the stadium...

There's also a meet and greet session or press conference at the Wisma Atria, featuring the following players.

The world number 1, Kento Momota is one of the biggest name that made it to Singapore Open. The host asked him a few questions.

The media people were are videoing and shooting photos.

PV Sindhu mentioned she likes Singapore, because there are many Indians here in Singapore.

The training venue for the players is the OCBC Arena, where players can walk to the Kallang stadium right after training. Hence the OCBC Arena is closed to amateur players like me.

Here the Chinese National team heading back to the hotel after training at the OCBC arena.

Singapore Open 2019

This week is the Singapore Open and the venue is the Kallang indoor stadium.

I may drop in for the earlier rounds.

May have a badminton burnout after watching Malaysia Open the week before.

Anyhow, this year's Singapore Open is arranged right after Malaysia Open which is different from the previous years.

The ticket prices are pretty high, but this year many to players are participating.

More updates to come.