Where is Chen Hong...? He definitely had a superb smash.... There's a video, of him somewhere on google video...
no vote for Heryanto Arbi yet??? Here's some info: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?76592-Heryanto-Arbi http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/search.php?searchid=3136788&pp=&page=4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hariyanto_Arbi Unfortunately there is only one video on youtuve between him and Sun Jun Sudirman cup 1995 where he lost rubber set, but worth the look.
in term of raw accuracy, I vote the veteran Peter Gade. Slice so hard that the shuttle goes down prematurely and often left his opponent stranded because the shuttle are already landed in front of their body, not going through them. But overall, I must say Lin Dan.. The power is there (if you guys often see him playing via,says youtube, sometimes there's an unique basslike "oomh" sound when he smash..) Plus no one could tell wether he want to smash it left,right,or middle.. On top of this, he has unreal late round the head smash quality.. (If players have their trademark like TH=backhand, FHF=jump smash, then this is his trademark I must say)
These are two big smasher in singles during their prime time. Lim Swie King got to be something but he wasn't in my era, so I never seen any of his live matches before. 1) Heryanto Arbi 2) Ardy Wiranata
Ardy Wiranata was a rally kind of player, he didn't possess good smash at all. Even Haryanto Arbi laughed at his smashes. He called Ardy BW smashes as 5 Watt, and his smashes as 100 Watts.
My vote list: 1. Taufik Hidayat 2. Haryanto Arbi 3. Lee Chong Wei 4. Lin Dan 5. Liem Swie King 6. Zhao Jianhua 7. Yang Yang 8. Dyonisius Hayom Rumbaka 9. Peter Gade Actually, I can't decide which between the first 5, but finally goes to Taufik hehehe.
Hmm, having watched most of these players at their prime, I would say 'effectiveness' a more crucial point than raw 'awesomeness' of their smashes. In terms of effectiveness : i) Zhao Jianhua ii) Lin Dan iii) Taufik iv) Peter Gade v) Lee Chong Wei vi) Lim Swie King vii) Heryanto Arbi In terms of pure 'awesomeness' of their smashes : i) Heryanto Arbi ii) Lim Swie King iii) Lin Dan iv) Zhao JianHua v) Taufik vi) Lee Chong Wei vii) Peter Gade To be fair, I can't say I have watched every major game that these players have played in but I have seen them play during their 'prime' years. At least on Live TV. And the summary is just based on the list of players above. I've omitted Yang Yang, not because he is not a good smasher, but the smash is not his main point of scoring points. In my impression, he's more concerned with getting the shuttle down in the most effective way, rather than plain 'killing' the rally. Which was why he was so successful in his prime. He had a very complete game. He smashed only when he needed to, not when he wanted to. You hardly see a 80+ % smash from him. It was always 'conserve-conserve-conserve'. Very controlled, point the shuttle down the line kinda thing from him . You probably see less than 10 of those 90-100% smashes from him in a 60 minute game. Hence, the glaring omission.
i think heryanto arbi is the best,the most powerful smash from baseline...new era of player just use the smash when they got the half court shuttle.
if you all notice if this thread is all about who are the hardest smashers, ina players will top the list
Cant remember where i said it, but anyway, IMO the best smasher is define by his contribution on the evolution towards todays power and style. In that sense, my top 3 players (in no particular order) would be Liem Swi King, Herianto Arby and Lin Dan. Their style had transformed the way a smash is perform which as a result todays smashes are a lot more efficient and powerful. Another way to explain is the fact that in their day, no other player smashed the way they smashed. And players after them have copied the way they smashed and bring the style into the future.
yes, that's improvement of smashes throughout the years. personally i think for raw power, just the smash power, its gotta be herianto arby, liem swee king, rexy manaiki and cheng chang jie i have seen and heard those smashes before
