A Journal of Badminton Events

This Peter Rasmussen video shows a very good footwork drill. This drill emphasize on the starting action from the center and returning slow. The slowdown in coming back to the center is essential to allow for acceleration from the center.

A common mistake in doing this drill is to do it at the same speed, which defeats the purpose of this drill. The knees need to be kept bent all the time so that the “energy” would not be released.

This is my own version of the drill.

If you are looking for an explanation about the basic type of grips , you can look here. This article is not about basic grips but assume that you already know the basic grips. The emphasis here is relaxed grip and how you grip the racket.

You should grip your racket with your fingers as oppose to gripping it with your palm.

Correct: Gripping the racket with your fingers

Correct: Notice the palm is hollow

Incorrect: Gripping racket with your palm

Incorrect: The whole palm rests on the grip

In badminton, a relaxed grip is very important as explained here. This is easily achieved by gripping your racket with your fingers rather than your palm. Many players miss out on this small detail. This grip is true for all shots – clear, smash, net, lift, drive. A relaxed grip is essential before hitting the shuttle. Upon impact, tighten your grip to give maximum power.

Grip Size

You hear a lot about G4 and G5 grip size in badminton. What do they mean? As the number increases, the grip size gets smaller. G5 is the smallest grip.

You need to have a grip big enough to hold the racket firmly but not too big that you have no room for grip tightening. For small hands like myself, I use a G4 grip with one layer of grip. It enables me to grip the racket firm enough with my fingers leaving some space between my palm and the grip. If you are not sure which grip size is right for you, you can buy a G5 grip and add more layers until you find the right size.

http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51185&page=4

mmmmmm

Malaysian top men doubles pair, Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Beong sailed through to the quarter-final, beating Thailand’s top pair of Sudket Prapakamol and Pattapol Ngensrisuk in 3 sets. They will meet Olympic champions, Tony Gunawan/Candra Wijaya in the quarter-finals of this Hong Kong Super Series. They have beaten this top pair before and they should be in good form to do so again this time. After their disappointing run in the just concluded China Open, I’m sure they would want to amend for that by winning this final super series. They will then end the year as world number 1 for the first time. Malaysian will be banking on them to win this SS as all other Malaysian pairs have crashed out. Unfortunately, Mohd Latif/Mohd Tazari could not repeat their feat over Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng and crashed out in the 1st round to the Chinese pair. Our veteran pair of Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah conceded a walkover to Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen possibly because of an old Lee Wan Wah knee injury.

The match of the day should be the Lin Dan vs Taufik Hidayat match. It was at this Hong Kong Open last year that Taufik walked out of the court in the midst of the first set against the chinese over a judging dispute. He received a lot of bad publicity for his behavior. So far, Lin Dan has been winning their most recent matches and hopefully, this time around, Taufik can turn the tables on him. Taufik has yet to claim a super series title this year and what better way to end the year by winning the last SS tournament. We’ll wait and see the results of this much anticipated match.

Our Lee Chong Wei is still in the tournament although he has a tough opponent waiting for him in the next round, Peter Gade. Although they have not played each other much this year, Lee Chong Wei should have the upper hand. With his solid defense, he should be able to take Peter Gade’s attack. Good luck to our Malaysian players!

Wong Mew Choo, our Malaysian women singles player has done us proud by winning her first open title of her career, the China Open 2007. En route to winning the final two league of the Super Series tournament, she beat the current World Champion, Zhu Lin, the Olympic Champion, Zhang Ning and the current World number 1 and All England Champion, Xie Xingfang at their own turf. It was her grit and determination that brought her this well-deserved victory. I watched the final match live on the computer and I am really amazed at how much her game has improved. She plays more crosses and her defense is solid. In long rallies, she would normally come up victorious. Her playing style does resemble Lee Chong Wei in certain sense, like the cross net and the touch drop.

For a Malaysian player, who are mostly well-known for their poor mental power, she proved us wrong by staying in the game albeit losing 8-21 in the 2nd game and trailing 7-11 at the interval of the 3rd game. Thank god there were no bad line calls to distract her from finishing her job. For the record, she has beaten all the top chinese players in the world and this would definitely mark the beginning of her promotion to the elite group of female badminton players. She has definitely made history for the Malaysian women player where the last female player to win a title was 40 years ago, Slyvia Ng.

Syabas Mew Choo!

Welcome to my badminton journal. Just a little background about myself. I am an avid badminton player who has been playing since I was 7 years old. I used to follow my dad to the courts and that’s where I picked up the game. My father was my unofficial coach and when I was young, my dream was to represent my country, Malaysia in badminton. Unfortunately, that did not happen. However, I take consolation in having represented my school and college. Now, I’m still playing competitive badminton, representing myself. I play in the local tourney in California. I hope to keep improving my skills and my goal is to make it to the B level. I’m currently a C- player. Long way more to go. In this badminton journal, I will pen down my journey to improving my techniques and skills and also footwork and strengthening excercises. Please join me in my journey and together we can take our badminton game to another level.