Who are the Fastest?

[jamesd20]

I'll take LD's footwork over mine any day.

But you aren't a professional....are you?

[DinkAlot]

But you aren't a professional....are you?

Of course I'm a professional. Oh wait, you mean Professional Badminton Player? Errrr...no way, I'm just a dinker.

[cooler]

Of course I'm a professional. Oh wait, you mean Professional Badminton Player? Errrr...no way, I'm just a dinker.

how about a title of 'Professional Dinker'

[DinkAlot]

how about a title of 'Professional Dinker'

Naw, I'm still an amateur when it comes to dinking. I need to learn how to dink more from JumpALot. Oh wait, JumpALot doesn't dink, he only smashes.

[Pete LSD]

You mean you are a KICKER!

Of course I'm a professional. Oh wait, you mean Professional Badminton Player? Errrr...no way, I'm just a dinker.

[jump_smash]

Hi Stuart, how are things down under? Yes, my coach saw all the singles players play and agrees with you. He said hands down LCW is the fastest, then LD.

Best Regards,
Dan

Dan,

Who is your coach, please?

Regards

Stuart

[DinkAlot]

Dan,

Who is your coach, please?

Regards

Stuart

Alex Liang (Liang Qing). I some times play with James Huang (Huang Zhen) too.

[Wendy]

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!juz register badminton central today....erm....I think the fastest player is Lee Chong Wei and Taufik Hidayat...

i think LD is faster than TD cause his nickname is super dan.
am i right??????

[ccskaki]

during china open 2005, gade vs chen hong.. i heard commentaor Zhao JianHua said, player dive because they got poor foot step, if u have good foot step you dont need to dive..

Yeah I listened to that part too.
Players nowadays (including the top ones) tend to dive a lot compared to players in Zhao JianHua's era. There's only two explanation to this:

1)The smashing speed today is much higher than in those days, or
2)As Zhao JianHua said.

I believe in the 2nd reason.

As for Lin Dan, it's a different story. It seems like he "LIKES" to dive. Try to observe this. Whenever he knows he can't save a shuttle, he dives all out and lies static on the floor in his trademark form -> legs and arms spreaded out in a star formation. That's his habit.

Logically if a player dives and hopes to save the rally, his reflex will make him try to stand up and not lie there doing nothing. When Lin Dan dives AND then just lies in a star formation, he already knew before he dived that he won't be able to save the rally. But he still dives anyway.

So it's not that he has to dive, but he wants to. Which is a bad habit.

[ccskaki]

Btw, I think the definition of a "fast player" in badminton should be a player that can quickly move to the location of the incoming shuttle and hit it early. The fastest player should be able to cover his court most effectively without loosing balance. It doesn't matter whether the player is short/tall/big/small/glides/takes-small-steps.

[ctjcad]

Btw, I think the definition of a "fast player" in badminton should be a player that can quickly move to the location of the incoming shuttle and hit it early. The fastest player should be able to cover his court most effectively without loosing balance. It doesn't matter whether the player is short/tall/big/small/glides/takes-small-steps.

sure, the definition can be as good as what you define above, and "it shouldn't really matter whether the player is short/tall/big/small/glides/takes-small-steps", i can accept..but in general, it's hard to say and relative..
if you are also taking into account of "the fastest player(s) should be able to cover his court most effectively without losing balance", i would tend to think shorter players would be able to do that in comparison to taller players.
IMO, taller players have an advantage thus they seem to be "fast"(with your definition above) because they have longer reach thus they probably wouldn't need to move as "fast".

[ccskaki]

sure, the definition can be as good as what you define above, and "it shouldn't really matter whether the player is short/tall/big/small/glides/takes-small-steps", i can accept..but in general, it's hard to say and relative..
if you are also taking into account of "the fastest player(s) should be able to cover his court most effectively without losing balance", i would tend to think shorter players would be able to do that in comparison to taller players.
IMO, taller players have an advantage thus they seem to be "fast"(with your definition above) because they have longer reach thus they probably wouldn't need to move as "fast".

There's no relativity here. It's absolute. The idea is like this. Put Kenneth Jonassen in the dead center of the court and let a machine generate a set of drill shots (a drop, a smash, a lob, and finally another drop). Record how fast he reaches the shuttle and then retreat to his center position. Then replace Kenneth with Lee Chong Wei and does the same recording with the same set of drill shots. Compare the two recordings. The comparison automatically takes into account everything: reflex, speed of forward movement, speed of retreat, etc. At the end of the day, we are not concerned about who is short/tall/fat/slim, we only want to know how well they handle the shots (which is not revealed to them beforehand).

Of course we don't have these recordings. But who do you think will perform best in such hypothetical situations?

IMO, taller players have an advantage thus they seem to be "fast"(with your definition above) because they have longer reach thus they probably wouldn't need to move as "fast".

And regarding this, actually taller players don't necessarily have advantage. Badminton is not a linear sport. The player doesn't only reach the shuttle in one direction. In a rally, the shuttle will come from different directions. In a rally, a player don't just reach for a single shot: he needs to twist-and-turn to reach multiple consecutive shots. Taller players can reach further but they are slower in doing twist-and-turns. Bao is one of the tallest player on court but when he is very slow in recovering from backhand situations. When LCW plays Bao, LCW always controls the rallies (one reason being LCW is faster).

[ctjcad]

There's no relativity here. It's absolute. The idea is like this. Put Kenneth Jonassen in the dead center of the court and let a machine generate a set of drill shots (a drop, a smash, a lob, and finally another drop). Record how fast he reaches the shuttle and then retreat to his center position. Then replace Kenneth with Lee Chong Wei and does the same recording with the same set of drill shots. Compare the two recordings. The comparison automatically takes into account everything: reflex, speed of forward movement, speed of retreat, etc. At the end of the day, we are not concerned about who is short/tall/fat/slim, we only want to know how well they handle the shots (which is not revealed to them beforehand).

Sorry, i tried to digest and understand what you are trying to explain, but i still don't get your point or idea quite clear of comparing LCW and KJ using those drills. Personally, no doubt we won't know the "speed" or "how well the reflexes" of those players are..

Of course we don't have these recordings. But who do you think will perform best in such hypothetical situations?

IMO, it will be hard to say, because of the fact that not all players are the same weight, height, have same reach etc. That's why i said it's relative and you can't identify which player(s) are "faster than the other" because not all player(s) are the same. I mean how can one judge Jonassen "slow", if you compare him to say a taller player than him(anyone know who is the tallest player in IBF??). Thus you can't compare Jonassen and LCW, Sato, Sigit and say J. Eriksen etc. in the same breath..
So my answer is i don't know and it's pretty irrelevant to compare. Unless anyone else can think who will do best in your "hypothetical question"...how about yourself??who do you think will perform better??..

And regarding this, actually taller players don't necessarily have advantage. Badminton is not a linear sport. The player doesn't only reach the shuttle in one direction. In a rally, the shuttle will come from different directions. In a rally, a player don't just reach for a single shot: he needs to twist-and-turn to reach multiple consecutive shots. Taller players can reach further but they are slower in doing twist-and-turns. Bao is one of the tallest player on court but when he is very slow in recovering from backhand situations. When LCW plays Bao, LCW always controls the rallies (one reason being LCW is faster).

IMO, hmm, "taller" players *do* have an "advantage" over "shorter" player(s), but ONLY if put to used effectively and efficiently to his or her "advantage". You bring up Bao, as one of the tallest player, who in your opinion struggles with his recovery. Sure, but how about the China's Ladies singles players ie. Zhang Ning, XieXF??As far as i know, you and i can acknowledge that they are quite "tall" and yet they are currently dominating the Ladies Singles field. Prior to them Ms. Camilla Martin who dominated the Ladies single field is also very tall.
OTOH, i agree "shorter" players do have better "balance". Back to your other post where you mention something like "...who can reach a spot without losing his/her balance". IMO, "shorter" player(s)(another relative word) have better center of gravity than "taller" player(s)(another relative word). Thus, lower center of gravity(shorter in height) > less center of gravity(taller in height). That's a pretty known fact.

Anyways, ccskaki, this is just my opinion and view on this topic. I don't want to go any further and keep on bantering on this matter. You have your view and i and the rest in here have ours...sounds cool??

[Brave_Turtle]

Yeah I listened to that part too.
Players nowadays (including the top ones) tend to dive a lot compared to players in Zhao JianHua's era. There's only two explanation to this:

1)The smashing speed today is much higher than in those days, or
2)As Zhao JianHua said.

I believe in the 2nd reason.

Logically if a player dives and hopes to save the rally, his reflex will make him try to stand up and not lie there doing nothing. When Lin Dan dives AND then just lies in a star formation, he already knew before he dived that he won't be able to save the rally. But he still dives anyway.

So it's not that he has to dive, but he wants to. Which is a bad habit.

I personaly don't think its a bad habit. From watching a lot video lately, I realized that it would be almost impossible to retreive the shuttle if he would not have dived.

Also there is nothing wrong in diving even tough there is very low chance of recovery. It only proves that he does everything he can to retreive the shuttle and puts effort in it. Also, Lin is one of those hard working players that dive in corners in order to make sure the shuttle is completely OUT.

I think you are completely wrong when you say that he likes to lie on the ground doing nothing. Of course he will stay for a few second if the rally is finish, but he's been very efficient in diving and getting up fast for the next shot.

As for Zhao, I somehow disagree with him because:

1- The shots that I've seen are impossible to retreive even with ''proper'' footwork.

2- He is from another era and whether the old era was better or not. We can't compare. Even if we have endless argument on that what will it bring? Will we be able to say 100% what is wrong and what is right? It's almost impossible to compare players and skills from different era.

[s1nn3r]

Player like Lin Dan & Sigit "LIKE" to dive because they are "SHOW MAN". I like watching them because they make the game more interesting and not afraid to try.