Thursday, January 31, 2013

Yonex Nanoray 700 RP- my favourite badminton racquet


Having used the carbonex 20 and 21, progressing to the
Titanium 8 and 10,experimenting with the red Nanospeed
800 and Nanoray 60, I have now graduated to using the
Nanoray 700 RP which I have discovered suit all my
requirements fully.
With my playing style the racquet outperforms all the
previous racquets I have been comfortable with.
The racquet is headlight and has a frame with tapered edges
so it  performs well in terms of power but loses out in terms
of raw smashing power to the Ti 10 or Voltric racquets.
Its strengths however are its control and speed and
manueverbilty,qualities already found in carbonex 20,21,
Ti10 or 8, and Nanospeed 800 and Nanoray 60 but it has
extra power and is a very comfortable racquet to use
and I am able to execute clears,drives, net dribbles,
smashes,slices etc almost perfectly and very comfortably.
It is almost like wielding a weapon that can be swung like
a broadsword and also thrust and jabbed like a hunting knife
when desired.
 To me,if there is a flaw in the racquet, it is the slightly soft,
wobbly,flexible head, ,I find myself sometimes mishitting or making
wild clears out of court when attempting easy smashes or clears
because of inadequate backswing.
 Although not as powerful as head heavy racquets for
smashing this is compensated by the speed of execution
and superior accuracy and sharpness in the delivery.If you
are thinking of executing booming smashes from the baseline,
you will be disappointed and should look to Li Ning models.
 It is no wonder this is the racquet of choice of players like
Saina Nehwal,Sayaka Takahashi,PV Sindhu,Aya Ohori and
many doubles players as it is basically an all round racquet
with modest power to match.It seems to be the prefered choice
for ladies and probably for veterans or juniors.But the Korean
Men's Doubles players wield head light Victor racquets and are
very speedy and powerful!
It is in essense a refined version of the raw powered Ti 8
and 10 and yet a power packed and faster version of the
Nanospeed 800 and Nanoray 60 and would not cause any
injuries to the player's hands.In fact the racquet feels as though
it is a part of my hand and responds effectively to signals from
the brain.Its greatest asset is the braking effect,after a fast swing
the racquet brakes quite quicly and it only requires a minor twitch
of the wrist to bring it back to position.Its easy on the hands and
will not tire out the hands after hundreds of swings unlike head
heavy racquets.It can be switched from overhead to under the net
shots very quickly and effortlessly,and is a "forgiving" racquet, ie.
it allows a bigger margin of error in your shots.
Whilst even a child can appreciate that a good racquet does
not make the better player, playing with a racquet that I can
execute all manner of strokes in all possible styles and not
making any unforced errors while at it,sure builds up confidence
and takes up one's game a few percentage points up.Nanoray
racquets are marketed as "out of position racquets" requiring
long backswings overhead and can easily hunt and reach the
shuttle well before the feet are in position for shots below the net,
and therefore good for defensive play and driving in doubles.It can
perform like a head heavy racquet with a slight adjustment and also
for driving and other below the net shots where it is best at ,a very
versatile racquet indeed!After all a good player needs to have both
attacking strokes as well as a sound defence too.
The key feature of this racquet is its aerodynamics as its frame design
has little air resistance and its light frame allows it to be wielded up and
down rapidly,a boon for players who build their game on speed in attack
and defence.It is possible that Yonex may be developing a model with the
700 RP's qualities but with a slight increase in smashing power (if at all
possible).I suspect the racquets currently used by Tago,Kamilla Richter
 Juhl, Koo and Tan fall into this categoryory.
I wonder what possible improvements can be made to this
racquet or the Voltric series in future.
While the Nanospeed 800 and Nanoray 60 in terms of racquet
performance may resemble its car equivalent in Toyota or
Volkswagen,the Ti 8 & 10 in Lexus,the Nanoray 700 has to
be a BMW or Merc.
My racquet is 3U and 5 G and strung at 25 Lbs.
The racquet retails from US$ 160-200 in KL and there is keen
competition here where aggressive marketing by close rivals are
threatening to muscle out what is essentially a technologically
more advanced range of products.    

Useful racquet selection tool : http://www.directsportseshop.co.uk/Selector.aspx?Sport=Badminton



Latest Nanoray 700


Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Excellent write-up for badminton doubles rotation play

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Lee Chong Wei learns to work smart

http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2013/1/28/sports/12635926&sec=sports


Work smart does not mean not working hard.Work smart

doesn't mean being a snake and letting others do your work.

Work smart is not being lazy,its doing the right things and

doing things right with little waste.

Experts will say, you cant work smart unless you work hard

first,and who better than Lin Dan said that.

Pro-one badminton centre opens in Cheras,Kuala Lumpur

http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2013/1/28/sports/12635780&sec=sports

Another center in Cheras after the one in Wangsa Maju.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Poul Erik Hoyer Larsen to run for BWF President

http://www.nst.com.my/sports/badminton/hoyer-larsen-wants-bwf-top-post-1.207878

Poul Erik has been greatly admired as a player.I wonder

what it would be like if he became President with Thomas

Lund as secretary,then Europeans will dominate the sport

and try to impose the traditional  "genteel" and part-time player

mind-set to the sport to the detriment of the pros in say China,

then the sport will be plagued by a run of injuries to players

careers and the Olympic fiasco will be repeated for the sake

of "sportsmanship" against the professional players' will.

Probably any European or Indonesian will simply continue the

policies of the past president and focus on more "sportsmanship"

and devastating schedules to the detriment of badminton as a

pro sport where players can earn a decent living.

On the other hand there is a slight advantage in that badminton

would not degenerate into the type of scandals plaguing soccer

which is controlled by bookies and betting syndicates which has

completely destroyed football in China and is threatening world

football.

China as the leading nation should take heed of the imminent danger

of badminton sinking as low as football the other Olympic sport with

its match-fixing and cynical "professionalism",which will destroy

Badminton's image ,not only as an Olympic sport but also as a

professional sport.

More amateurism ,"sportsmanship" and "Olympic Spirit" or more

professionalism,commercialisation (and with it the threat of corruption),

we shall see after the new President takes the chair.

I dont know about others but I will definitely not turn back the clock

against something built up so hard over decades for the sake of some

kind of fancy ideal.

So where will badminton be heading, hopefully more like Tennis or Table

Tennis,and hopefully not like the badminton of old or like Squash today,

trying to join the ranks of Badminton,Tennis and Table Tennis.

To China's credit,although she dominates the sport, she has never

attempted to take over the BWF.

When comparing Tennis with Badminton many conveniently forget that

Tennis is very commercial with the emphasis on winning Grand Slams

with big bucks,players take the Davis Cup or Olympics with reservations,

and fans dont try to bad-mouth them for that.

In badminton many countries focus on the non-revenue tournamnents like

Thomas/Uber Cups,Sudirman Cup,Olympics  and the World Championships

as has been the case for decades, and the Super Series are mainly fillers.

http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2013/2/20/sports/12733265

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Taufik should run for president of BWF

http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2013/1/16/sports/12580755&sec=sports

Taufik should run as president since he has so many ideas

how to promote badminton worldwide.Of course it will

also be good for his business. At the same time as president

he will be able to shift all the goalposts and sabotage Team

China with brader Lee Chong Wei so that indonesia will have

a chance to dominate badminton as in the past.

Unfortunately the pro players playing schedule may become

so hectic that the most hardworking players will drop out like

flies caused by injury or may be broke because of heavy fines or

banished because of not playing their best and trying to win at

all times and cost.

Then Badminton will be able to hold on to its Olympics status

and will become less competitive and more amateurish,with

schedules manipulated to sabotage the best and offer affirmative

action to the lazy and more cunning players like you know who

instead of injury prone players like Simon Santoso or Sonny.

It is no surprise that the standard of badminton in his country

is dropping with people like that as role models,not great pros,

but more like politicians bad mouthing others and not putting their

own house in order first and foremost.

Malaysia has its famous badminton Datuk ,why not honour

Taufik too and add him to the list ,I suggest we give him the title

"Tok Kok'.


Monday, January 14, 2013

Li Yong Bo supports Nadzmi for BWF president

http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2013/1/15/sports/12575862&sec=sports

To each his own, but I will whole-heartedly support

LYB on his comments about the gruelling schedule.

If badminton is in danger in the Olympics it is because

it is not popular enough in all continents to justify its case

for the Olympics.Whether players need to support the

Super Series and put their livelihood on the line is something

else.

http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2013/1/17/sports/12586607&sec=sports

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Malaysian Badminton Doubles pair Goh Wei Shem and Lim Kim Wah

http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2013/1/12/sports/12566257&sec=sports


It takes so long for certain humans to learn from the past

what many knew long ago, doubles is a team affair and it

is mainly about working together and for each other to forge

a successful partnership or team. 

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

New Coaching Director for BAM?

http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2013/1/10/sports/12555050&sec=sports

Offer from someone who says he has enough of badminton.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASQRytB33Iw

Monday, January 7, 2013

Darren Liew is banned from Korean Open.

Thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2013/1/8/sports/12545142&sec=sports

If such is the case, its better to give walkovers or retire injured

so as not to be accused of match-fixing and not trying one's best.

Of course not turning up would be the worst choice as there are hefty

fines.

Sad to say the badminton body has gone loco, just observe the number of

players with knee or back injuries such as Chen Jin,Wang Lin,Wang Xin,

Lu Lan,Wang Shi Xian,Zhong Qian Xin,Chen Xiao Jia,Liu Xin, Jiang Yan

Jiao, Lee Chong Wei, Saina Nehwal, and most will realise that badminton

is a bit different from other sports and that pro players neeed to take care

of their well being as they are prone to injuries and should not be over-

exploited.At the moment players are falling apart like flies.

The most badly hit has to be women singles players who in the past had at

most to play 3 sets of 11 points, whereas nowadays they could end up

playing 3 sets of 21 points just like the men.

The original intention of prolonging players careers by adopting the 21 pont

rally system appears to have gone an about turn, putting a strain on players

and ending the careers of so many,which has never ever happened before.

Something fishy is going on and I think the governing body is being run by

some sinister, evil, sadistic Loki or pervert/s, already responsible for the

bad publicity in the 2012 Olympics because of their high-handedness.

Probably senile people without a memory of the effort required to merge

the WBF and IBF in 1982.

 For goodness sake stop the torture and let players choose when and

where to play.Less participation by China translates into more

opportunities for players from other countries to win tournaments and

gain confidence and earn more money,that is surely good for badminton.

Whatever manipulation is done, the end result is the same,China only

wants to win the pretigious tounements like the Thomas,Uber or

Sudirman Cups.With so many tournaments ,you just cant win them all.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Pang Cheh Chang takes over from Yap Kim Hock in BJSS

http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2013/1/4/sports/12532352&sec=sports

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Lin Dan gets his Master's Degree

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/sports/2012-10/22/content_15835084.htm