Olympian in focus: Chen Long scouting report

Chen Long

Height: 1.87m

Weight: 80kg

Place of Birth: Shashi District, Jingzhou, Hubei, China

D.O.B.: 18th January 1989

Handedness: Right

Nationality: Chinese

Assets: An extremely hard working and athletic badminton talent. Has long reach, balance and mobility around court. Covers the 4 corners of the court with aplomb, supreme racquet skills and excellent mental strength. Owing to his height, he can get serious angles in his smashes. Can play any style, but he excels in long rallies. Moves surprisingly fast for his height and size. Smooth under pressure.

Flaws: Owing to his height, opponents will try to play a fast game and hit smashes aim at his body. Also may not be as consistent in a fast attacking rally due to his size and lack of quick turning agility.

Career potential: Excellent top 5 player in the world, top 1-2 player in the world when on form.

Career Highlights: (Selected trophies): World Champion (2014, 2015). All England Champion (2013 & 2015)

Duora 7 Demo review

First Impression:

The 2nd racquet from the Duora series after the Duora 10, It is a balance all rounder racquet. The colours and physical shape can be found in Vonex website and reviews by other badminton reviewers.

Demo review

I played mostly doubles (and half court singles)

TOC (time on court) when making review:

total of 1 hour of game play.

Warm Ups:

Warming involves baseline to baseline forehand clears.

Clears are long and far owing to the aerodynamics of the racquet and how strong the racquet swings, you can literally feel the momentum of the racquet cutting through the air. If one word is to describe this racquet is 'thick'. Thick like as in big and thick frame and shaft. Unlike its predecessor the Arcsabers, Duora 7 has a thick frame and shaft.

When contacted on the sweetspot, the force imparted on the shuttlecock can be felt acutely on your hands, i.e. the repulsion. Although, these could also be attributed to the strings you used, in my case the trusty BG66.

Drives are favourable given it is an even balance racquet with specially designed frame. The racquet is relatively manoeuvrable.

The racquet shaft is thickly sized and felt that the stiffness is stiffer than Yonex's medium flex rating. The kickpoint of the racquet, i.e. where it 'snaps' when whipped felt it's more towards the center.

Game Time:

I won't go into detail each and every shot tried.

The even balance of the head of this racquet is apparent, as one can comfortably and easily whip the racquet to hit shuttle comfortably with the backhand strokes for fast jabs.

Owing to the balance and aerodynamic frame, this racquet is very easy to handle, easy to go short handle grip to long handle grip.

Not much fatigue felt on my hands after an hour of game.

Front court: Aerodynamics of the racquet frame allow adequate performance of netshots, netkills and crosscourt net shots. Adequate for backhand drive and jabs. However, felt that the racquet is not fast at the net but that's my opinion. 

Midcourt: This racquet plays good in the mid court range area as it is both good in attack and jabs. The even balance and aerodynamics allows fast reaction. I felt that at midcourt is where this racquet excels.

Back court:

Basically smashes, drops and clears in backcourt. This racquet is great at the back, pumping smashes and full length clears. The racquet felt like a headheavy racquet when performing a full swing.

Control is good, slicing (normal and reverse) and checked drops are precise, fast and relatively accurate. However if the pace is faster, control suffers owing mistiming issues especially at front court.

Conclusion:

An even balance racquet for great control at midcourt and backcourt. Control is sacrifice at a faster pace and sluggish at front court.

Feel: 9/10

Control: 9/10

Power: 9/10

Defence: 9/10

Maneuverability: 8/10

Pros: Maneuverability on the defence and momentum of the frame (Duora effect).

Cons: Feels less aerodynamic than the thin frame/shaft Arcsabers. Sluggish at front court.

Suitability: intermediate/advanced players 3U and 2U

Player type: All rounder racquet.

Footnote: this review was done as a hobby and as an interest to inform fellow badminton enthusiast. This is my personal opinion and in no form to promote this racquet.

Conflict of interest: None

Olympian in focus: Lee Chong Wei scouting report

Lee Chong Wei

Height: 1.74 m

Weight: 60kg

Place of Birth: Bagan Serai, Perak, Malaysia

D.O.B.: 21st October 1982

Handedness: Right

Nationality: Malaysian

Assets: An extremely hard working and quick badminton talent. Has high badminton IQ and explosive quickness around court. Covers the court extremely well, supreme racquet skills and have very high fighting spirit. Possess one of the fastest reflexes and explosiveness among top badminton players which allows him to recover and defend with aplomb; often returning shots with interest. Has excellent attacking instincts.

Flaws: Has a mental barrier when the stakes are high. Doesn't always play to his strength in the 1st set and guilty of coasting in the beginning. May lose a bit of explosiveness over time.

Career potential: Generational talent (one of the four kings) and ranked 1-2 top player in the world.

Career Highlights: (Selected trophies): Olympic silver (2008, 2012). All England Champion (2010, 2011 & 2014)

Olympian in focus: Lin Dan scouting report

Lin Dan

Height: 1.78m

Weight: 70kg

Place of Birth: Lonyan, Fujian, China
D.O.B. :October 14, 1983

Handedness: Left

Nationality: Chinese

Assets: An outstanding badminton talent with off the charts badminton IQ. Possesses smooth fundamentals of racquet skills and footwork. Has explosive attacking prowess and excel in a fast pace rally. Can 'read' his opponents game play and play any type of style. Plays at his best at the most prestigious tournaments. Excels under pressure. 

Flaws: In his youth, he was very brash and can be taken off his game plan by on-court and off-court antics. Has fiery temper when confronted with slights or perceived insults. May not be as explosive in attacks as before and resort to more control rallies.

Career potential: Generational talent, perhaps the greatest badminton player that ever lived.

Career Highlights: (Selected trophies): Olympic gold (2008, 2012), World Champion (2006, 2007, 2009, 2011 & 2013). All England Champion (2004, 2006,2007, 2009, 2012,2016)

Badminton scouting report

We have always seen professional players with camcorders studying their future opponents in the badminton stadium. Since as fans and spectators, we can form our own scouting report as a neutral person. The pro players are studying their opponents via video for weaknesses.
National teams often employ camera men and analysts to study the future opponent's weaknesses.

Picture 1: Rows of camcorders by pro players studying the match of their future opponent

Here is a person streaming video from the camcorder to her laptop to analyze the future opponent's weaknesses and tendencies.

Picture 2: An analyst streaming the video from the camcorders for analysis

I will write a scouting report as a third party person, hopefully it's entertaining and useful to fans or the players perhaps.

YONEX SUNRISE Vietnam Open 2016

I just learn of the closest badminton tournament before the Rio Olympics 2016.

The GP series is held in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon) on the 7/18/2016 to 7/24/2016. 

I am tempted to go and shoot a vlog with my new camera. There are many hotels near the same stadium. Perhaps most of the Olympians won't be paticipating and train hard for the Olympics.
It's a good excuse for me to backpack to Saigon, Vietnam and try the streetfood. Very tempted to hop on an Air Asia or Jet Star plane to watch the Vietnam Open.

The location is excellent tourist area in district 1, with plenty of sightseeing in addition to watching a game. Very tempting...

Victor Bravesword 12 Review

Racquet Type: Victor Bravesword 12

Specs: 3UG5

Flex: medium flex

Balance: even balance

Strings: Yonex BG66

Tension: 25lbs, pre-stretched using Yonex ES5PROTECH

Grip: Yonex towel grip + cushion wrap + original grip

Technology: Nanotec, Inner waves, Shockless, Sword

Shuttles used: Yonex AS50

First Impression:

This racquet made famous by Lee Yong Dae and was/is the main racquet of choice by Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong. Hence, because of the Lee Yong Dae factor, I got to try it. It occupies the niche of a fast attacking doubles racquet. The colours and physical shape can be found in Victor website and reviews by other badminton reviewers.

Final comprehensive review

I played mostly doubles (and half court singles)

TOC (time on court) when making review:

total of 20 hours of game play.

Warm Ups:

Warming involves baseline to baseline forehand clears.

Clears are long and far owing to the aerodynamics of the racquet and how fast the racquet swings, you can literally hear the slicing sound of the racquet cutting through the air. If one word is to describe this racquet is like its namesake 'sharp'. Sharp like a sword's edge.

When contacted on the sweetspot, the force imparted on the shuttlecock can be felt acutely on your hands, i.e. the repulsion. Although, these could also be attributed to the strings you used, in my case the trusty Yonex BG66.

Drives are pretty fast owing to the 'aerodynamic' sword-like frame. The racquet is very manoeuvrable and hence very good for fast reaction.

The racquet shaft is normal size and felt that the stiffness is stiffer than Victor's medium flex rating. The kickpoint of the racquet, i.e. where it 'snaps' when whipped felt it's more towards the handle hence by swinging it fast, you can feel the whipping action. I need a high speed camera to confirm this though.

Game Time:

I won't go into detail each and every shot tried.

Generally since I am playing doubles, receiving of serve and serve are great as expected for a fast and aerodynamic racquet.

The even balance of the head of this racquet is apparent, as one can comfortably and easily whip the racquet to hit the shuttle comfortably with the backhand strokes for fast jabs.

Owing to the balance and aerodynamic frame, this racquet is very easy to handle, easy to go short handle grip to long handle grip.

Not much fatigue felt on my hands after an hour of game.

Front court: Aerodynamics of the racquet frame allow quick and fast reaction to perform netshots, netkills and crosscourt net shots. Racquet cuts very fast through the air. Excellent for backhand drive and jabs.

Midcourt: This racquet plays good in the mid court range area as it is both good in attack and jabs. The fast handling and aerodynamics allows fast reaction. As for drive shots, this racquet can rival the best headlight racquets, that I have used particularly Nanospeed 9900 and Ti-10. Backhand drive is excellent. A smash at midcourt is almost a guaranteed kill; especially when connected on the sweetspot.

Back court:

Basically smashes, drops and clears in backcourt. This racquet is great at the back, pumping smashes and full length clears. However, I feel a lack of momentum compared to headheavy racquets when doing the full swing, although the racquet swings thru very fast and awesome whipping action combine with fast swing.

Control is good, slicing (normal and reverse) and checked drops are precise, fast and relatively accurate. However if the pace is faster, control suffers owing mistiming issues (racquet swings too fast) and racquet may be too whippy.

Conclusion:

A fast swinging even balance racquet for great whipping power. Good for fast strokes, but control is sacrifice at a faster pace (owing to 'sharp' frame and timing issues: fast swing). Backhand handling is excellent bordering on legendary.

Feel: 8.5/10


Control: 8.5/10


Power: 9/10


Defence: 9.5/10


Maneuverability: 9.5/10


Pros: Maneuverability on the defence and very fast swing.


Cons: Control is not as consistent with my other racquet owing to timing issues (racquet swings too fast and whippy).


Suitability: intermediate/advanced players 3U and 4U

Player type: Fast racquet for defence and counter-attacking.

Footnote: this review was done as a hobby and as an interest to inform fellow badminton enthusiast. This is my personal opinion and in no form to promote this racquet.

Conflict of interest: None

Reference: Victor website (accessed @ 20/6/16)