yup, must agree, heryanto arbi (or however his name is spelt) aka 'jumping jack' is the jump smash king for me. too bad his body couldn't sustain it for very long though. i remember his rallies, almost every other shot was a jumping smash. zhao jianhua and fu haifeng are excellent exponents as well; sigit's smashes look good, but i don't think they are as effective as the first 3 mentioned here.
Don't forget M'sian veteran hero Datuk Punch Gunalan. I remember seeing the picture when he is doing the jump smash sometimes ago.
actually if you watch Peter Rasmussen doing his prime 97-99 he was amazing at jumpsmashing, also Gade during 97-2001 did some fantastic jumpsmashes. Still i would rate Arbi as the best pure jump smasher ive ever seen. Amazing how that little guy could explode in a few seconds.
No player even comes close to Zhao JianHua. His jump-smashing not only highest, but also powerful, high-precision, style, and very deceptive. You won't know where he's directing his smashes. He's simply artistic. Don't believe this? Watch how he destroyed Ardy Bernardus Wiranata and Alan Budikusuma in the semis and finals of world championship in 1991.
I haven't been around to see all the best, but from what I've seen (in no particular order): Zhao Jian Hua (all around beauty, effectiveness and deception) Kim Dong Moon (power, power, power) Sigit Budiarto (jumps to the moon, so graceful, so much style, most fun to watch) Chen Hong (nearly unreturnable) Lin Dan (extremely effective) Fu Hai Feng (power extreme)
The Indon pair kido and setiawan. They may not be that tall, but damn thier jumping smashes are powerful! KKK too. And Lin Dan's smashes...Uncomparable. Why women dont jump smash as much...=(