hello, welcome to the forumnot so important...
This is interesting, sports science would say that every sport has an ideal body shape. Badminton is an odd one as it is dominated by shorter people on average but that's subject to the sports popularity in Asia.
Tall people can be just as effective or even more so if their body shape compliments the height. A tall heavy build person can't move around as easily but a tall thin to average build person can. Short people aren't always faster than tall people and tall people aren't always aerobically fitter.
I recently watched a World Championship final between Peter Rassmusan (excuse my spelling) and a chinese player (late 90s). Peter moved around the court very efficiently and by the end of the game the shorter Chinese player could hardly walk and needed medical help.
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That's because Sun JUN was already injured before the game.
from my own experiences in both playing and coaching, I've found that taller players find forward/backward movement easier (takes less steps). Shorter players seem to have an advantage when it comes to quick movements to the sides (returning fast drops/half smashes in singles). As a tall person, I find the shoulder turn that is necessary for sideward movement quite difficult. Shorter players don't seem to have this problem. Shorter players also have an advantage on defence, because they can bend lower and counter-attack smashes more easily. These, however, are merely trends that I've seen, not an absolute fact.
Sorry, i do not agree. I think being taller has a distinct advantage even at the highest level. You cannot compare Taufik or LCW as they are very fine talent from a very large population. 50% of the entire Asian men population is about their height. Whereas if you want some guy taller than Bao ChunLai, it is about 1% of the Asian population. If you can find a talent like BCL, you will probably get 50 guys as talented as him in the 1.70-75m range. In statistical perspective, if Taufik/LCW is a 1: 1,000,000 talent, then BCL is one-fiftieth i.e. 1: 20,000. BCL is considered on par with LCW/Taufik. So it is because he has the physique advantage to overcome and match the superb talent of Taufik/LCW.As I said before, in doubles at least one of the players needs to be tall enough; but need not be positioned in the back; look at Kido and JJS but they need tall partners to block the returns from their smashes.
But in singles, height doesn't matter to be top, they can cover with great footworks; see taufic, LCW, etc. Nevertheless, height matters somewhat to be in the highest places of the rank.
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Sorry, i do not agree. I think being taller has a distinct advantage even at the highest level. You cannot compare Taufik or LCW as they are very fine talent from a very large population. 50% of the entire Asian men population is about their height. Whereas if you want some guy taller than Bao ChunLai, it is about 1% of the Asian population. If you can find a talent like BCL, you will probably get 50 guys as talented as him in the 1.70-75m range. In statistical perspective, if Taufik/LCW is a 1: 1,000,000 talent, then BCL is one-fiftieth i.e. 1: 20,000. BCL is considered on par with LCW/Taufik. So it is because he has the physique advantage to overcome and match the superb talent of Taufik/LCW.
As an adult with ordinary skill, I can beat even the best 9 year old kid, simply by my height advantage.
XXF, Wang Yihan, Wang Lin, Zhang Ning are very tall amongst the Chinese women population. Easily within the top 5% percentile. I am certain there are natural talents from the petite category, but not given the opportunity to develop further as world class players. Therefore, being tall gives you that advantage of being selected for further grooming.
On another front, if you look at Usain Bolt, 6ft5in, 100m World Record holder and Olympic Champion, his physical advantage is so obvious.
There is no ideal height. The taller the better (except gymnastics) when everything else is the same.
In my last sentence I wrote. "The taller the better when everything else is the same".
Imagine you are only 4 feet tall and I am a six footer. You got to have the skills of Lin Dan to beat me. Whether it is a 2 foot or 2 inch difference, the advantage is still there when everything else is the same.![]()