I'm a male that played badminton for 4 months. I am still a noob but I grow very fast. I can beat most of my peers who were taught by him for a year-year1/2 or so. I am taught by Coach Kevin Zheng and will continue to do so. Him and my peers recommended me to buy a new racket because my racket is around 20 years old (Black Knight). It's also very low quality. I prefer a Korean racket but I understand they don't have a wide category and good-quality rackets. I am on the offensive side, my smashes are pretty good. I am 5' 6'' and I'm 14 years old! . Help me out please!
It also will help if you tell us what other racquets you've tried and which one did you like/not like.
Pricing? Anything under $300 will do. It'd be better if it is under $250. My friend recommends the Muscle Power-99. However, there are mixed reviews for the racket. I don't know if I should get it.
Rackets I have As I said before, I am using very old rackets that someone gave me. 1. Yonex Blacken-I found pretty hard to control. When smashings went right, it was strong. Defense was not that good. Could not return some smashes. 2. Black Knight Crown Mirage-My main racket. Not as strong as the Blacken but defence was great.
I guess Blacken is the heaviest model from Yonex. It is the model before Carbonex series. Hmm...MP-99, u're making a really huge leap. For ur info(copy from book), MP-99 is an extra stiff racquet, best suit for attack, weigh 85-89.9g, length:674mm, recommended for intermediate to advanced players. One thing i've noticed about Malaysian player, Lee Chong Wei, he got at least 7 pieces of NS racquets, but he still uses MP-88 occasionally. So check up this model (silver colour with blue stripes) if u decide to get one of MP series. Phillipines player, Kennie also sticks with MP-88. My fren owns 1 MP-99, but he is a defensive player and doesnt have enough wrist strength to handle that racquet well. So he uses back his Ti10 racquet.
The MP99 is extra stiff and will be too much for you. The MP88 is a good choice but a better choice IMHO is the MP28. It's medium flex, even balanced and a little bit more powerful than the MP88. It's also less expensive than the MP88. BTW, don't forget to get proper badminton shoes. The MP28 plus the best Yonex shoes should cost you less than $250.
