The history of Zhao Jian Hua

Danke danke boys

Remember, don't just talk cock, play it too... (shuttle)

 

Reliving the Glory Days through Past Articles

For new BCers curious to know more about Zhao and also for those of us who are ever holding true to the notion that old is gold (also), nothing fails to excite more than reliving the past through actual viewing of videos and past media articles. (Unfortunately no video links this time).

Zhao was being labelled a rebel who has to be searched for high and low for (whether pulled by the ears or not, I don't know) and be called for training since early schooldays of training. Nevertheless the military-style badminton camp knew they had scouted an uncut diamond. In the beginning Zhao had emerged at a Scottish Open to defeat Morten Frost, which will be followed by another 2 consecutive defeats of Frost in later tournaments, namely the All England. Among the others scalped by Zhao on the way to the final were Hastomo Arbi (3-1), Steve Baddeley (2-0) and also surprisingly Lim Swie King with a scoreline of 15-10,15-5. When entering final, many reckoned that Frost previous defeat to Zhao was because of Frost playing too many tournaments and this final was to debunk that Zhao's previous victory was only a lucky one.

In another tournament, many do not know that Zhao had handed a 15-0 to another player before, and not only Frost who had also done the same thing to Icuk before. The player thrashed by Zhao was Syed Modi, Indian National Champion.

However, there were others who had beaten Zhao during those days and they were far and few, namely a player from Indon named Hendery Ho Jun Kie and Eddy Kurniawan. (Later Zhao would avenged his defeats). However these defeats only happened at the early encounters with Zhao. But more of Hendery and Kurniawan at another post as I have yet to find the articles.

Please enlarge the articles for easier viewing unless you have perfect 20-20 vision.

 

Though I know many of you Zhao fans have watched this classic video of the 1985 All England match with Frost before, but I thought you might like this vid as it is commented by the englishman. Enjoy.

[video=youtube;5EG-v2xvNuA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=5EG-v2xvNuA[/video]

 

Gosh, wouldn't it be nice to have new Zhaos, Yang Yangs, Lin Dans in the upcoming new era? All of them in the same era. Damn, that would be spectacular! Wishful thinking.

 

Another rare occasion where Foo Kok Keong defeats the crafty Zhao. Besides winning the match with grit and determination, it seems that Foo had to have known where Zhao's shots were going to land beforehand, probably studied his play by monitoring vids over and over again, which is necessary if you want to beat someone like Zhao. You can't really put yourself in an attacking position if your feet can't get you to where you want in the first place right? I think this is one of the few and rare cases where true grit triumphs over talent. On the other hand, Zhao was probably mesmerized that Foo returned all his deceptive shots and Zhao had to utilized his backhand smash at times. A rare video to enjoy but you need to squint your eyes to guess where the shuttle is, but enjoyable nevertheless. Click on the link below:

[video=youtube;OUGrYzjSXH0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUGrYzjSXH0[/video]

Footnote: Xiong Guobao and Yang Yang are the ones who has the upper hand when facing Foo.

 

I am sharing these with you as I think it has helped me a lot in ways more than I can imagine, so I hope you can benefit from this too. Approach with caution and as a gradual step by step technique as this may injure your wrist.

A friend of mine who incidentally studied at Singapore Institute of Management Studies, had the opportunity to rub shoulders with this Zhao wizard. Zhao had once told him some of his 'wizard' traditional ways to upgrade my friend's weak wrist that is needed so much in this game of guile and speed. Zhao also said, he noted my friend's talent in placement of the shuttle but as my friend was only of medium built, not very quick footed, as most of all, no killing power! But Zhao told him to do some modification to improve his finesse on the game.

First, Zhao said, is to do some modification onto my friend's racket head. Find 3 things : 1) cable tie 2) nut weighing about 25grams 3) brown surgical tape. This is not recommended for early beginners, ie you just started playing badminton last week. As for the surgical tape, do not use the clear white type as there are not strong enough to adhere to the racket head after a smash. Lastly, your racket should preferable be gripped with a towel grip and not the rubber grip. I don't know why he said this, probably due to the fact that a rubber grip has no room slipping, and this might injure your wrist. As always, play with caution until you get the hang of it. Get the right size of cable tie, not too thick, not too thin. There's is always the possibility of cable tie breaking after too many games and may need to be change again during a game, so be prepared and stock up spares in your badminton equipment bag!

First, at the top centre of the racket head, adhere a short cut out surgical tape measuring about 2cm. Then put the nut directly on the centre of the racket head before applying the cable tie to lock the nut in on the centre of the racket head, by inserting the cable tie through the middle centre of the strings and then tying it and tightening it over the said nut. If your body weight is less than 55kg, start with a nut weighing 10grams first. This is to avoid over stressing your wrist. After tightening the cable tie, make sure the cable lock head goes inside the racket head and not sitting above the racket head. Make sure the cable tie is tighten neatly in the middle of the two strings running vertically beside the cable tie. When it's done, cut the remaining unwanted length of the cable tie, preferable with a nail clipper, and not a pair of scissors, as this will probably lead to accidental cutting of the racket strings. You don't want to restring your racket! When you're done, place another piece of surgical tape over the cable tie. Depending on how large your surgical tape, you may need 2 or 3 more layers to completely cover up the weird protrusion on top of your racket head. The last layer is necessary to prevent the bolt flying off into someone's face in the event of the cable tie breaking off! But anyway, it has not happen to me, not even once.

After 6 months of playing this style of training, you can take them off. Unless you have plenty of good rackets and have $$$ to spare, I advise you to use a racket that is not so expensive to begin experimenting with. So after half a year of practicing like this, I find that my wrist power has improve tremendously. I can whip the racket with more power, but of course, accuracy has to be practiced and does not come freely. But with the supply of wrist power, you will walk very happily into a badminton court at all times, I tell you.

Now for the weird part, at least for me is this. I can't play, if my string tensions drops to lest than 28 pounds. Before practising like this, if it's 28 or more, I can't play! Now it's vice versa, because if it's less than 28, all my shots go haywire! But anyway, I hope this can benefit you as it did me. This is for me, a relatively, simple and inexpensive way to improve yourself. Kudos. Happy shuttle-cocking.