While plotting my children's heights on a graph, I couldn't help but wonder how professional players stack up. This US Centre for Disease Control chart only goes to 20 years old, but who grows much after 20? Lee Chong Wei height is marked by the dot beside the number 2. At 172cm, he is on the "25th percentile" which means that 75% of normal American men are taller than he is. Chen Long is much taller at 187cm (dot 3). He's taller than over 90% of American men. Vladimir Ivanov is almost off the chart at 197cm! Markis Kido, small but mighty at 164cm, is shorter than 95% of full-grown American males. This chart is for men only, but for comparison's sake I've added World Championship finalists Wang Yihan ('b') at 178 cm and Cheng Shao Chieh ('a') at 158 cm. _________ This chart does nothing more than visualize what we all knew already: That success can come in any size.
Quite true that a large majority of men (and women generally as they mature faster) stop growing in height around 20 years of age, except for the late bloomers. In badminton, height is a significant advantage but you still need the skills to take advantage of it and, as in everything in life, there are pros and cons, nothing is all one way. For a very tall person, it's a definite advantage to reach a high shot but, on the other hand, it can be a bit of an effort or strain to reach a very low shot and get up immediately as quickly as a much shorter person, I suppose. Even so, as can be gathered from some of the height statistics of players and their tournament results, height does matter a little but it's not the main determinant, skill is the ultimate factor of success. Notable 'short' players at or among the top include Lee CW (1.70m or 1.72m?) as you've mentioned, Wang Shixian (1.68m), Susi Susanti (1.61m). I'd say,even Lin Dan at 1.76m or 1.78m according to certain sources is not exactly tall on average.
I remember watching the match between Ivanov/Sozonov and Ahsan/Setiawan. The height difference between the pairs was almost comical, especially when Ahsan and Ivanov were standing face to face (or face to chest, I suppose) at the net.
chen long is at 189cm. very tall for asians. how about hong wei? 190-193? and chai biao is at 188cm. CB/HW and KSH/LYD height comparison. both koreans are at 180cm.
Yup, there certainly is a wide range of heights in badminton. But baddy's got nothing on basketball: Wikepedia states that the tallest and shortest NBA players ever were 2.31 m and 1.60 m , respectively.
The thing about badminton is that reach is not as important as in basketball, but much more critical is speed. Speed of footwork, speed of racket and arm, speed of core body movement, speed of reflexes. Tall is good only to a point until the legs and arms become too long for the muscles to move quickly.
I do agree. What you lack in height and reach can be made up for in speed. Lee CW is an outstanding example.