https://fb.watch/1u3OTnNAAp/ can anyone tell what is so special about ivanov's smashing style? it seems to be different from other asian styles of swinging racquet. 0:17 to 0:22 and 1:25 to 1:31 He doesn't seem to be turning his body much but simply throws his elbow forward, still generating massive power...how?
I don't see the mystery here , I just see stick smashes, they've been mentioned lots of times even very recently on the forum, there are many examples here for example of lin dan doing stick smashes If you are suggesting that his are different to that then you should explain where.
He is using a stick smash, thought in doubles a full power attack is more common. The reason is, that the defense in a double is a lot harder to surpass and a stick smash normally don't have the power/speed to put enough pressure on the enemy team. But Ivanov is really tall (201 cm, 6 feet, 7 inches), so he can put a lot of pressure on the enemy team with quick,early taken, very steep stick smashes. The smash speed/power is not as important as a steep angle. Ivanov can generate really steep angles even from deep in the court. The shuttle, even if hit really hard, will lose speed really quickly. Even if the shuttle needs to travel 1 addtional meter, it will lose a lot of speed and therefor it is easier to defend it. The steepness of a smash reduces the way the shuttle needs to travel resulting in a much shorter time until the shuttle hits the floor. Therefor it is really easy to smash a bad lift to the service line, even with a small margin of your power, the steep angle and short traveling distance will result in a very hard to defend shot.
Mostly agree re height and stick smash, but you say "it is really easy to smash a bad lift to the service line, even with a small margin of your power" I can't see Ivanov or his partner smashing to the service line.. For example see these two examples, they aren't going to the service line. And other examples I saw in that clip I didn't see any like that. If you saw him smashing to the service line in that clip then i'd be interested to see a timeframe.
The movement is almost the same but power and placement are different. The smash will go faster and further. And I don't think Ballschubser meant to aim for the service line but the idea is to hit as near to the net as possible. A full smash will go toward the back line where the opponent usually stand. The stick smash will go down toward the middle of the court which will be more difficult to defend as the opponent will need to move. Moreover, in the clip, Ivanov is not standing at the farther back and thanks to his height, it's normal to use the stick smash
It's just part of his technique. Partially, I'm guessing, because he's insanely tall for a badminton player, and doesn't have the best fast twitch, but also because his technical training will have been different than most Asian players' (Sozonov's technique is even more peculiar, imop). Seems to work for him though, even without having big full body movements like FHF or LJH he generates a LOT of power. Rotation cuff out of Titanium, it seems.
That's the average height in the NBA, and those guys can jump. What if one of them is trained to be a pro badminton player? Ivanov's height, FHF's movement?
In the end it wouldn't matter. I'm always surprised that height in badminton doesn't seem to be important at all, atleast at high level. My favorite example is Ginting vs Axelsen. Ginting: world rank 6, 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) Axelsen: world rank 4, 1.94 m Head-to-head: Ginting 4 : Axelsen 2 and btw, Ginting is an attacking player, still height doesn't seem to matter. Although check minions vs Li/Liu or PV Sindhu vs Yamagucci or Okuhara.
