Short Badminton Players

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by remix441, Aug 22, 2007.

  1. remix441

    remix441 Regular Member

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    Are there any short proffesional players. Im a guy 17 yrs of age around 5'5 or 5'6 and i hear that most short badminton players cant really become very good like A rank because of their height. Most peoople shorter in lenght cant produce much power as say a 5'10 player who is same skill level, + the taller the better angle of smashes. You guys know of any short badminton players that are pro?
     
  2. Temasek Green

    Temasek Green Regular Member

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    Markis Kido, he just won the Malaysia WC in men double with Hendra Setiawan.
     
  3. phaarix

    phaarix Regular Member

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    Most good players around where I live are shorter than me :D. I'm about 5'10 or so.
     
  4. Timbuctoo

    Timbuctoo Regular Member

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    Were a tall person has an advantage in one area short people excell in other areas. Most of the taller players that are pros seem rather defensive like KJ and Anup Sridar. Most of the good players atm are short. I'm 6"3 so that's why they seem short.
     
  5. harmono

    harmono Regular Member

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    Being taller also helps a lot with court movement as well. 1 step verses two in many situations. You can intercept a lot more birdies too, allowing for a more aggressive game with less consequences.

    Have said that, Howard Bach is pretty short the 2005 World Doubles Champion. But he has tree trunks for legs.
     
  6. DivingBirdie

    DivingBirdie Regular Member

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    can someone give a figure for the heights of markis kido/howard bach? anyway if you want to be like those shorter professional players, you'll have to jump like them too lol. just look at zhang jun
     
  7. chickenpoodle

    chickenpoodle Regular Member

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    i'd say the best range is somewhere between 5'7 to 6'2.

    anywhere shorter than 5'7 and taller than 6'2 and there may start to be some issues to deal with. too short and you may have trouble with people lobbing shuttles over your head if you're in trouble at the net in singles, or awkward moments when it comes to defending against body shots, just to name a couple.
     
  8. jump17

    jump17 Regular Member

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    Markis Kido is around 5'4 and Howard Bach is 5'7
     
  9. DivingBirdie

    DivingBirdie Regular Member

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    but doesn't longer legs mean longer arms? why would longer arms produce awkward movements against body shots? :pbut what i've heard from some people is that taller players have poorer balance than shorter ones due to their higher centre of gravity. wonder how much truth is in it
     
  10. chickenpoodle

    chickenpoodle Regular Member

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    with good racquet preparation and readiness, awkward moments can be avoided.
    but in a fast rally, and if the person is caught with an outstretched arm, i'd think its easier for a smaller guy to defend a close to the body shot than a taller bigger guy.
     
  11. coleismybear

    coleismybear Regular Member

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    hi, i am only 5'3 >_>
     
  12. Oldhand

    Oldhand Moderator

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    The Long & Short Of It....

    Chickee, your 'best range' of 5 '7" to 6' 2" comprises nearly most of the male world. :rolleyes: Among the bigger countries, only Japan, Brazil, China and Mexico are a few inches behind this average. And if you were to exclude the 30-65 age group (which doesn't hold the pro players), China would stand much taller.

    I'd say that the advantages of height (or disadvantages, for that matter) in badminton are largely overstated. At the outside, the difference in height between the shortest and the tallest pro players is less than a foot (and around 1.5 feet with racquet raised). Significantly enough, at any point in time, those at the top have been a mixed height group... Yang Yang and Liem Swei King had Morten Frost and Zhao Jian Hua for company while Chen Yu, Peter Gade and Sony Kwuncoro have Bao Chunlai, Lin Dan and Chen Hong in the ring.

    It's true that tall players have it easier on overheads, clears, steep smashes and high interceptions, while short players have an edge in speed, flat interceptions (straight blocks), power from tighter arcs and, most importantly, recovery.

    Yes, a higher centre-of-gravity makes it far more difficult for a taller player to regain his balance or reverse a move. It also makes bent-body shots a bit troublesome as he needs more time to straighten the torso after the shot. :mad: (I can personally vouch for this.)

    In any case, fixing an average for the badminton population is not a decisive exercise. For instance, the average height of the adult population in chickenpoodle's Canada is 5' 8.5" and 5'11" for the 18-24 age group. Compare this with China's 5' 6.5" and 5' 7.9" respectively. The difference isn't much... or, in other words, it isn't significant enough to make a drastic impact on outcomes.

    Ultimately, the deciding factor seems to be the height of the net. I reckon that any one taller than 5 feet is already advantaged. :D
     
  13. jerby

    jerby Regular Member

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    while I agree with you on the intercepting, I plainly disagree with this...

    yes, I do a lot of 1, or 2 step footwork (6 foot 7) but I doubt it takes me less effort... How much leg muscle do you think goes into one step? if you're tall and skinny (me) you're leg muscle tire quickly. If you're tall and big you're not exactly a featherweight on court:p

    so, imho, tall players don't naturally move better on court (don't even get me started on tall peoples motor skill)

    How come nobody mentions Soji Sato? he's short, (pretty) muscular (for his height) and very fast. How often do you see him taking a backhand shot? He can hit everything around the head. Given, he's not the most offensive player, but some great 'counterattacks' (for lack of a better word)
     
  14. event

    event Regular Member

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    Most of the guys under 5'7" are limited to doubles. The only exception I know is Shoji Sato. He is ranked in the top 30 and is just under 5'6". In doubles, there are a few more. Olympic silver medallist Yoo Yong-sung is around 5'6", as is WC runner-up Jung Jae-sung. Markis Kido and I think Luluk Hadiyanto or Alvent Yulianto are around 5'6". There are a few more heights in this thread.
     
  15. Dreamzz

    Dreamzz Regular Member

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    alvent is the taller one, i'm sure luluk falls into the category of shorter players.

    yeah, most of shorter players are in the doubles categories, currently some of the top short players include:

    howard bach
    jung jae sung
    markis kido
    luluk

    quite a few malaysians as well (zakry, gan teik chai, chan chong ming, hoon thien how etc ....)
     
  16. ZhiWeiZ

    ZhiWeiZ Regular Member

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    Short player are not lousy...they just need more effort to train in their skills then they would be ok...
    im just 5'5
     
  17. Athelete1234

    Athelete1234 Regular Member

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    Well being tall actually means you'll be slower than if you were shorter; take a look at Bao chunlai: if you take a look at each of his steps, he's actually a lot slower, than Lin Dan. And much slower than Lee chong wei, who's even shorter than lin dan (I think). At a certain point, tall people have an advantage, but after a certain height, it's a disadvantage to speed, and recovery.
    BTW, cause everybody's throwing around their height, I'll just throw mine out... I'm 5'10", which is pretty tall for a 15 year old chinese guy :).
     
  18. CoolMonster1

    CoolMonster1 Regular Member

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    Look at Kenneth Jonnasen, he seems tall to me when I watch him play, he deffinatley lacks movement, but his shots are very precise, he has one of the strongest smashes and he seems to come up with great returns. Hes interesting to watch because it seems like he doesnt play like a ordinary badminton player, not as quick, does not really jump and to me doesnt look the part of most badminton players:D
     
  19. remix441

    remix441 Regular Member

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    Nice Thanks for the info. I guess men singles the guys tend to be taller. Despite a few exceptions that you mentioned. But their good none the less. Yea, being taller helps the movement easier. :0 You dont need many steps to reach from end to end of the court.
     
  20. remix441

    remix441 Regular Member

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    Anyone got videos of Shoji Sato playing? I want to watch him move
     

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