This is something I read from the web suggested by someone here... Suddenly read about the news about these 3 chinese superstars... Had mixed feeling... dunno how to express... especially for Xiong Guobao... "The world had evolved from Tang Xianhu's era of pure skills requirement to Arbi/Dong/Xia's power style!!! The FOUR HEAVENLY KINGS era is in between of this two style, possesing a mix of skill, power and speed!!! Thus I see Yang Yang, Zhao, Icuk and Morten Frost as the greatest of all time..." Anyway, below are something I learnt from the news: Yang Yang: His title on his namecard is Managing Director of Yangyang Badminton Club Pte Ltd , Managing Director of Baoyang Sports Development Pte Ltd. Yang Yang is now staying in Nanjing while his wife and two daughters had moved to Australia in 1996. The elder daughter(12) got a golf champion in the youth category in a province level competition. And Yang Yang doesn't encourage his daughters to take badminton as career. Because according to him, environment for badminton sports is not very good in Australia, more suitable for leisure play. But golf offers higher level of competition and prize in Australia. Sometimes, Yang Yang wants his daugther to "betray" badminton....(not understand).... Anyhow, Yang Yang's badminton equipment shop still have a branch in Australia... After retired in 1991, Yang Yang received offers from Malaysia and Japan to work as coach. Due to language factor, he chose Malaysia without much consideration. And he, Han Jian and Chen Changjie formed a nearly "whole-chinese" coach team. And out of Yang Yang's expectation, this "whole-chinese" coaches created a history in malaysian badminton only in the second year they took charge. They helped the Malaysian squad to lift the Thomas Cup trophy. According to Yang Yang, the Malaysian badminton standard was not low at that time, because badminton is the "national sports" in Malaysia, the status is somewhat similiar to table tennis in China. However, the management is not very strict, compared to the almost "half-military" style in China... Zhao Jianhua: Born in 1965, height 1.83m, left hander, originates from Jiangsu Province. Enter sports school at the age of 12, majoring in Badminton. Selected into the Jiangsu Badminton squad(province level) at the age of 13. Won Jiangsu City badminton competition at the age of 16. Enter the Chinese National Squad at the age of 18 in 1983 In Nov 1984 (the second year he is in the national squad), he got the fame, the first time he was noticed on international stage. Defeated Morten Frost to win the Scotland Open. Jan 1985, he defeated Morten Frost and Han Jian to win the Japan Open. Apr 1985, he won the All England by defeating Liem Swie King in semifinal (2-0) and Morten Frost in final (2-1). Zhao Jianhua had defeated four world class players within 3 months. This news shocked the world badminton and soon he was recognized as one of the "FOUR HEAVENLY KINGS". In 1986, he recoved from a lung disease which had forced him to rest one year. And he soon won the Malaysia Open, Asian Games, China Open and Thailand Open. 1987, he won the World Cup. 1988, Thomas Cup. 1990, Thomas Cup and All England. 1991, World Champion and World GP Finals Champion. 1994, Zhao Jianhua entered a management college in Singapore, and also became a coach in a secondary school and advisor of Singapore National Squad. 1997, he graduated from the college. Partnered Zhang Jun to represent the Jiangsu Province to win the Men's Team event. Zhao had only won the WC once in his career. This might be something other players everyday dreaming for. But to Zhao, having only won it once doesn't match his standard.. (Zhao got his fame in AE1985, however, he got lung disease after that twice which delay his WC crown until 1991...) Facing the uprising Indonesian players that time in the early 90s, Zhao had gradually past his peak. In 1990 AE final, Alan Budi Kusuma couldn't even see where is the shuttlecock smashed by Zhao. In 1991 WC final, Alan already could give some good fights to Zhao. In 1992 Olympic, Zhao was so helpless already to see Alan Kusuma creating history.... Before the influence of Liem Swie King in fans heart had faded in the early 80s, the era of the "four heavenly kings"(YY, Zhao, Icuk, Frost) came. Wooden racquet was gradually replaced with aluminum alloy from late 70s to early 80s. And it was the fibre titanium racquet ruling the badminton world in the 90s. Equipment is getting more advanced, speed is increasing, that's why there is a decrease in the requirement of skill. The world had evolved from Tang Xianhu's era of pure skills requirement to Arbi/Dong/Xia's power style!!! The FOUR HEAVENLY KINGS era is in between of this two style, possesing a mix of skill, power and speed!!! Thus Yang Yang, Zhao, Icuk and Morten Frost were seen as the greatest of all time... Xiong Guobao: The man who failed in his badminton business in Thailand in 1997,losing all his money and savings.. When he left Thailand, he didn't bring back a photo taken there and a single Thai Bath.. Now working in Taiwan as coach, his life is very stable. But he is not satisfied, he dun want to end up at this stage. In Taiwan, there are a lot of childs interested in badminton, but they are not targeting to become a professional player. That caused Xiong Guobao hard to use all his knowledge and skill in badminton, because the children don't expect a high standard.... If he wants to be a coach, he wouldn't had gone to Thailand for his badminton factory, he had a lot of opportunities to be a coach in China. He wants to do something big.
excellent article on the progression of badminton. It further reaffirm my belief about today's focus by players and coaches - SPEED**. In essense, POWER is really speed in different context. Viver, iwan (and others i'm not naming) are right about stroke and techniques but they're coming from their old era point of view. They were brought up by those style and form part of their core belief which they still dearly hold onto. Yes, we can't turn back time and bring the old greats with today's greats together in the court to test the theory -ie razzle dazzle stroke/skill (viver et al) versus speed (me cooler et al). However, by indirect evidence, i had proved my case: 1. lin mao head coach MAL 2. recent top players, LD, XZX, C. Hong,wong CH, are all fast attacking players. Defensive style not in vogue. I see people here saying LD is lacking net play but hey, he's the man right now. The turning point by Arbi/Dong/Xia's hasn't abated but rather enforced by LD racket changed, shoes changed, strings changed, stringing machine changed, bodily function knowledged improved, training technique changed. To be great, u need to make use of the mentioned improvement. The old greats were skillful because of the crappy equipments they have to master. Now, a B+ player with ns7000 and bg85 at 30 lbs can match or out smash a great with wooden racket strung at 18-low 20's using thick solid core strings or carry 1/2 doz wood racket with nat. gut strings. **The world had evolved from Tang Xianhu's era of pure skills requirement to Arbi/Dong/Xia's power style!
yang yang advice to daughter prove that , unfortunately but understandablely, that money changes everything. ( cyndi lauper) I tried golf for 2 yrs, try to like it, no can do. so i guess i can't be a rich spoil brat but i'll settle to be a happy badder
What is he doing here?? Actually is his business still running here?? Anyway, that's why I am interested to see Yang Yang and Xia Xuanze playing against each other using same type of racquets.
[**The world had evolved from Tang Xianhu's era of pure skills requirement to Arbi/Dong/Xia's power style!] Tang XianHu's era might be skills requirement only?? Is he saying that Tang XianHu, Hou JiaChang and co. only did some drills to 'perfect' the skills. If the writer is from China, this guy must have been sleeping all these years. Or are current players Lin, Bao, Taufik power style only. Maybe not sleeping, can't even see properly. Cooler, I am perfectly OK with your views on badminton. I am from the 'old' school and from 'outdated' coaches, but I still prefer mine over yours - skills, speed, power, accuracy and determination. They are all EQUALLY important.
I think what he means that is since the racquet is not so advanced in Tang's era, that's why the players of that age are more focused on skills and technique, and with those racquets maybe they are not so into power.
If Chinese players only focused on skills and technique then nobody would have mentioned their training is tough and demanding. To reach the highest level, one must have top notch skills and also the physical abilty to perform it accordingly. It is just NONSENSE saying they were skills only. From the Chinese badminton school, the thinking, speed and power is part of the attributes of a successful top level player. At top level, all players are fine athletes, all are fast and physically fit. Take some time to find records in Chinese newspaper. I believe in one interview Tang XianHu mentioned players still polishing technical issues. But I guess Tang XianHu is old and outdated in his assessment. Skills are very very important. No matter how powerful or fast you are, if your shots are not well executed, the opponent is just waiting on the spot for the shuttle to arrive. If the shot is not accurate, your opponent can return it easily. Assuming the top level play is just power and speed, do you still need all the coaches knowledgeable about badminton there? Being this the case then US just need to replace their national badminton team coach with the track team coach and they certainly will be world champions. As for racquets, Tang XianHu in his playing days had racquets made for him according to his own specifications. It's from Aeroplane brand (same as the shutlles) and interstingly it had an isometric head shape (tough smaller than current ones). It's head heavy but with excellent feel. For strings, all Chinese team players at that time used gut strings. Are they worse than modern synthetic strings - well for this you have to try it yourself.
Interesting stuff. But my impression is that Icuk is more power play compared to the other three. Also 1990 All England final should be the amazing one between Zhao and Joko Suprianto. Very interesting to see the ebb between speed/power and skills. Hendrawan is a skills player and Xia and Peter Gade have *a lot* of difficulty against him.
no need to have doubt on this issue, if gut is better, pros playing in high stake events like olympic, WC, AE, JP O, INA O, china open, etc where cost is close to being not an object, those pros shoulda be using guts(or Tang XianHu would be making the chinese players to use guts) . I also dare to say sultans of brunei, who has net worth of > 11$ billion US, uses synthetic strings.
http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8347&page=2&pp=10&highlight=brunei+gold http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/sh...&highlight=sultan+brunei+badminton+court+gold
Yang Yang still owns a percentage in the business he set-up Yang Yang racquets etc. But unfortunately he sold a major portion of it off after his business partner didn't put in that much effort and business wasn't going as well. Understand from a friend that is why he is back in China running coaching (Gunagzhou school)
I agree with you, man. Put Ben Johnson on steroids against me, and I think I will win hands down (at least I hope...)