dbswansea WAS joking. I agree with Mark A that Ahsan uses a repainted FB. Mark showed a convincing picture.
Noticed Praveen Jordan using the Z-Force II in the final of the recent Malaysian GPG. He only had two of them though - strings broke on both of them in the first game I think, and he was subsequently forced to use his Z-Force I hehe.
What is the racket that Hiroyuki Endo (Japanese MD with Kenichi Hayakawa) using right now? Is it ZF II? And what U? 3U or 4U? Thank you
Viktor Axelsen: AdiPower Pro (88g, head heavy, stiff) Shintaro Ikeda: AdiPower Pro (88g, head heavy, stiff) Wong Wing Ki: Precision Pro (85g, even, medium) Nozomi Okuhare: AdiZero Pro (80g, head heavy, medium) Adidas AdiPower series also include the AdiPower Force, which is 92g, really head heavy and stiff - the racquet that most closely matches the specs of what Lin Dan has been playing I recon. So my guess is that once he's officially an Adidas player, he'll be yielding an "AdiPower Force 2" racquet, or maybe even am "AdiPower Force Lin Dan Edition". Translated to "Yonex Terms", the Adidas racquet series are: AdiPower = Voltric AdiZero = NanoRay Precision = ArcSaber Switch = Other... I've read that Adidas racquets are made from Japanese produced graphite/carbon, and that the company relies on experienced Japanese badminton racket engineers - all the facts suggests to me that they have poached some Yonex employees and are closely aligning their ranges and products to that of Yonex (it makes sense to learn from and mimic the company that currently sits in the market position you would aspire to). Adidas' goals (5 years from now I think) are to become the number one racquet "by reputation" and the number three "by sales". I'd imagine they were aiming at getting the best players in the world to use their products and create a hype/buzz around it's name (using their world wide marketing muscle), but not be able to beat the sales figures of Yonex and LiNing given their position in the global and Chinese markets currently. They do seem to have an interesting line-up of players: Young upcoming talents - the champions of tomorrow - and now the single most attractive player from a PR perspective, Lin Dan. It will be interesting to follow Adidas ventures into badminton. Hopefully a commitment from such an established company will even help badminton itself.
I wont buy into LD going with adidas until its irrefutably proven, however Axelsen hasnt been using the adipower in a while, choosing the duoforce instead (which was mentioned only a couple posts ago!). adidas' start to the market here is pretty surprising to me as their prices are ranging from high to insane (159€ for a bag, 35€ for a 15m reel of towel grip? Seriously?).
