Badminton Racket First Impressions: Victor Thruster K8000

So I took the new toy out for a spin and here's how it felt. I had mix of singles and doubles games lasting about 3 hours in total.

Right off you can feel that it's got that natural weight that will save you a lot of energy when playing, especially singles. It's a little whippy than the other Victor rackets (which can be stiff as heck), and you really can see that from the very long clears that I can get from my backhand strokes.

I didn't get a chance to restring my racket after procurement, so the feel's a bit off when I try the more intricate shots like the net drops and the drives. Smashes came off ok, the catapult system from the TK8000 working like a charm.

The Thruster K8000 didn't feel sluggish in defense, in fact it weighs a little less than what my impression of a 3U racket would be. This made the shots a little easier to pull off, and I found myself sticking to the racket for my singles game that day.

Overall the Victor Thruster K8000 performed well. I got it restrung at the end of the day and will await the next session so I can test it out for a proper review.

New hotness: Victor Thruster K8000

It's nice to get my hands on a new racket. It's even nicer to get to know a fellow enthusiast in the process.

Thanks for the nice conversation Calvin! I'll give this a swing tomorrow and hope your ankle gets better!

Indian badminton league - the teams and the players

Here's the complete list of all the teams & players that will be participating in the Indian badminton league 2013, which is scheduled to be held from 14th Aug to 31st Aug, in six cities of India.

The names of some of the IBL teams have been changed in recent days, and the IBL auction that was held a couple days ago on 22-July, has finally helped in deciding which team would consist of which players.

Here is the list of the six Indian badminton league teams, their owners, coaches, and the list of all the badminton players in each team.

IBL TEAM	Hyderabad Hotshots	Mumbai Masters
Owner	PVP Group	Consortium led by V. Chamunde-Swarnath
Coach	JR Kumar	Aparna Popat
Players list
Men's singles	Taufiq Hidayat	Lee Chong Wei
	Ajay Jayaram	Marc Zwiebler
	Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk
Women's singles	Saina Nehwal	Tine Baun
Men's doubles	V.Shem Goh	Pranav Chopra
	Tarun Kona	Manu Attri
	Khim Wah Lim	Vladimir Ivanov
Mixed doubles	Pradnya Gadre	Sikki Reddy
	Shubhankar Dey	PC Thulasi
	P. Kanthi Visalakshi	Sumeet Reddy
		Rasika Raje

IBL Team	Pune Pistons	Delhi Smashers
Owner	Dabur Group	Krrish Group
Coach	Nikhil Kanetkar	Rashid Sidek
Player list
Men's singles	Tien Minh Nguyen	Wing Ki Wong
	Saurabh Verma	HS Prannoy
	Anup Sridhar	Sai Praneeth
	Joachim Fischer Nielson
Women's singles	Juliane Schenk	Arundhati Pantawane
		Nichaon Jindapon
Men's doubles	Rupesh Kumar	Boon Hoeng Tan
	Sanave Thomas	Kien Keat Koo
	Wee Kiong Tan	V Diju
Mixed doubles	Ashwini Ponappa	Jwala Gutta
	Arun Vishnu	Prajakta Sawant

IBL Team	Banga Beats	Lucknow Warriors
Owner	BOP Group	Sahara India Pariwar
Coach	Vimal Kumar	Muhammad Hafiz Hashim
Player list
Men's singles	Parupalli Kashyap	Weng Fei Chong
	Hu Yun	RMV Guru Sai Dutt
		K Srikanth
Women's singles	Tzu Ying Tai	PV Sindhu
	Carolina Marin	T. Sapsiree
		Ruthvika Shiwani
Men's doubles	Arvind Bhat	Marcis Kido
	Aditya Prakash	Maneepong Jongjit
	Akshay Dewalkar
	Carsten Morgensen
Mixed doubles	Aparna Balan	K Maneesha
	J Meghana	Nanda Gopal Kidambi

As you can notice in the tabulated list given above, each of the teams has 6 Indian players, and 4 foreign players along-with at least one Indian junior badminton player.

The Indian badminton league is scheduled to be played in the six cities, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Lucknow, Pune and Bangalore, and the tournament will have home and away matches for each of these six teams.

The IBL opening ceremony will he held in Delhi, the semi-finals matches in Bangalore and Hyderabad and the finals will he played on 31-Aug-2013 in Mumbai.

New record-breaking racket from Yonex?

Saw this on their website. Looks like they're trying to break another speed record.

http://www.yonex.co.jp/smash/

Sunil Gavaskar becomes a part of Indian badminton league

Cricket's one and only little master Sunil Gavaskar along with Telugu actor Nagarjuna, are reported to have become stakeholders in the Mumbai team that will participate in the IBL (Indian badminton league) tournament that is going to be held next month from 14th to 30th Aug-2013.

In my opinion, this is great news for the badminton scenario in India. Both Gavaskar as well as Nagarjuna's involvement with the IBL will make the matches more newsworthy for newspaper publications as well as the TV channels who keenly follow everything that happens in the world of films and filmstars , and in the world of cricket and cricketers.

And with cricketers of such merit as Gavaskar showing his interest in the game, badminton will get more than the share of media attention that it usually receives. This in turn will attract more people to watch the Indian badminton league, and some of them could then become ardent followers of badminton, if the matches and the tournament delivers on its promise of some really nice high-voltage action.

But that benefit is only the tip of the iceberg. Gavaskar can offer so much more to the game, and badminton players can learn a lot from him.

In my opinion, he is a man of multiple talents and has acute observational skills. I still recollect how he once mimicked the bowling styles of players such as Abdul Kadir and Malcom Marshall in an over that he once bowled, a long time ago.

And I also distinctly remember about how he once mentioned of his experiments with holding the bat very gingerly in his hands while facing fast bowlers. He said that initially the bat got knocked out of his hands, but soon he was able to hold it without dropping it, and the opponents were astounded at how even the fastest of balls started dropping dead at his feet when coming in contact with the bat. He was truly a master at defence, in his days.

The reason I am going down this memory lane, is because badminton could do with the same kind of insights and experimentation. Well, players and coaches maybe doing it all the time, but even if they do, that kind of information does not ever reach the ears of badminton fans.

Also, at least once, I would love to hear Sunil Gavaskar lending his expert commentary to a badminton match someday. If not that maybe he could at least pass on a few good tips to those who are doing the commenting.

Even before IBL, Gavaskar has been involved with the sport of badminton for some time now and Nagarjuna's foray into badminton is not very surprising either. He is a Telugu actor who I believe is based in Hyderabad, and as all of us badminton followers know, Hyderabad is the hub of badminton activity in India, largely due to Gopichand's academy which is based there.

To add to this celebrity duo, Aamir Khan (who is a good badminton player) and Deepika Padukone (who has a badminton background, being the daughter of Prakash Padukone) are going to be the brand ambassadors for the Indian badminton league.

All things considered, the future of Indian badminton looks better than ever before.

Badminton Shoe Review: Yonex SHB-01 Limited

My second pair of Yonex badminton shoes! And aren't these a beauty.. Couldn't resist the purple and green combo. 

When you can't play a very good game of badminton, at least you can make them look at your shoes in envy!

Note: This review is my opinion of the shoe from using it in my games. Take this with a pinch of salt since we all play the game differently. I'm here to tell you, in as much accuracy as I can, how the shoe feels and if it added to the game. Comments welcome!

Comfort

The SHB-01 is meant to wrap around your entire foot - top and bottom - so as to achieve a non-slip feel as you move around the court. The tight hold it has probably means it's not really suitable for those with broad feet. 

For those whom it serves, it will serve well. The shoes offer very good comfort as they hold firmly. Apart from the feet getting really warm over time (it's not got a lot of ventilation like the Mizunos), the Yonex SHB-01 really did offer a lot of comfort.

One thing I did feel, however, was the tongue cutting into my ankle as I ran around. This was rectified by making sure you pull it right up when you wear em. Prolonged use will also soften it up. 

Stability / Grip

The soles of the shoe look like they're of some mid / low end range. No more of the complex sole mechanics that came with my previous SHB-101LTD. This one's more of a two-piece, no nonsense make. Not that it doesn't get the job done, but you get the feel that Yonex was probably pulling your leg about the previous one. 

Those who are used to a broader shoe (I'm talking to the Li-Ning users out there), watch your step with these narrower tips. 

One the court

I constantly find myself looking down at the shoe to see how nice they were. Other than that I don't feel any need to worry about my footing.

The Yonex SHB-01 Limited gives a very good grip, with excellent stability and a nice firm hold on your foot. Non-slip, fast-paced.

Yonex OCBC US Open 2013 badminton tournament - results

The 2013 Yonex OCBC US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton championship tournament that was being played at Orange County at California in USA, came to a close today. The senior international championship being held at the same venue will conclude on 14th-July.

Here's a look at some of the results.
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Men's Singles event

Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam who was the 3rd seed at this tournament clinched the title defeating 4th seeded Wing Ki Wong of Hong Kong by a score of 18-21, 21-17, 21-18.

Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand who had started this US-Open 2013 badminton tournament as the top seed, alongwith Japanese player Kento Momota were the other losing semi-finalists.

There was very less Indian representation at the US Open in this year. Amongst those who had participated, Anup Sridhar lost in his first match itself and could not progress beyond the first round, while Arvind Bhat managed to do a bit better winning his opening match, but then lost his way in the second round when he was defeated by 15th seeded Henri HursKainen of Sweden in two straight games.

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Women's Singles event

Sapisree Taerattanchai of Thailand won the gold medal in the women's singles event at the US Open-2013. She defeated Yuka Kusunose from Japan, in the final match by a score of  21-12, 21-13.

Top seeded Nichaon Jindapon of Thailand and Kaori Imabeppu of Japan, were the other semi-finalists.
There were no Indian players participating in the women's events.

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Doubles events.

The women's doubles final was an all Chinese-match. While China bagged the top two positions (gold and silver), the next two positions (losing semifinalists) were both from Japan.

However in the mixed doubles final match, Hong Kong got the better of China in the final, to win the gold medal.
In the men's doubles final, top seeded Japanese pair of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda won the gold medal.

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The US open-2013 is conducted every year by OCBC (Orange County Badminton Club) which is situated at Orange County in California, USA.

The club also offers short term and long term group training programs to selected participants who get a chance to learn badminton from well-known badminton coaches.

External references:
http://tournamentsoftware.com
http://ocbadmintonclub.com

Indian badminton league in Aug-2013

Expectations are rising high as the first ever Indian badminton league date draws nearer. The competition will be held from 14-Aug to 31-Aug-2013, starting with the opening ceremony at Delhi and culminating with the finals that will be held in Mumbai.

The presence of all the top-level Indian badminton players as well as top-ranked overseas players is going to ensure that the competition play will be of a very high level. For Indian badminton fans this is a good opportunity to watch the world's best players in action in their home-towns.

The competition is going to have 6 teams, and will be played using a franchise model similar to the one followed in Cricket's IPL league. Each team will have a total of 12 players that will include a maximum of 4 foreign players from top badminton playing countries such as Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Korea and Denmark.

And here's the list of the six IBL teams that will be competing for the prize money which is over Rs.5 crore.

Mumbai Masters
Karnataka Kings
Hyderabad Hotshots
Rajdhani Smashers
Pune Vijetas
Lucknow Warriors

By the way, don't these team names sound similar to their IPL counterparts in cricket?
If you are like me, no doubt at one point or another you must have wondered why Hyderabad cannot be called just as the Hyderabad team and Mumbai just as the Mumbai team.

The matches will be conducted in these 6 cities in the form of home-and-away matches for each of the teams in the 3-week long tournament.

And yes, the Indian badminton league finally seems to have caught the attention of the cricket-crazy media of our country. Newspapers reported that Sachin Tendulkar was interested in buying the Mumbai Masters team, and now I am hearing that Sunil Gavaskar will also be involved in the tournament in some way or the other.

Bollywood has not been left behind either. It's been reported that Aamir Khan, whom I admire, and who apart from being a great actor is a good badminton player is going to be one of the brand ambassadors. The other ambassador for the event is going to be badminton legend Prakash Padukone's little girl Deepika.

There is going to be a fair amount of money involved in the league as a lot of heavy-weight companies have shown interest in buying the franchise teams. Companies such as Dabur, PVP, and Sahara have already got the teams they want.

The base price for each teams had been pegged at Rs.6 crore. That's big money when it comes to badminton. The players are also going to be richer with the top 5 from each team earning 50000 US dollars and the next 5 earning half of that.

Check out this link for more info: http://www.iblschedule.com/ about Indian badminton league.

A good news for us badminton-fans is that all the badminton matches are going to be telecast live on Star Sports.

So here's wishing Indian badminton league a great success!

Badminton Racket First Impressions: Victor Meteor X Jung Jae Sung and Li-Ning Woods N80

I recently got my hands on these two rackets and took them out on a test in this evening's game of singles. While the MX X JJS only had a one-game run, the N80 stood out more and had the opportunity to be tested further. I'll write for both of them anyway, since I've got quite a good experience from the two rackets.

Victor Meteor X JJS

From what little time I had on the court with this (about one game actually), I can probably only say that this racket can smash! When you first hold the racket it didn't feel as head-heavy as you think it is. Even on the swing you're probably looking at an even-balance racket at most. 

But all that chances once the shuttle hits the stringbed. The Meteor X JJS produces a relatively fast swing, which translate to a really satisfying crack at the shuttle when you get behind it. It made me want to smash even more. And I did, though I did notice that the shuttles came off harder than faster. 

Defense seemed to suffer a little, but that one will have to be tested more. On hindsight, the Victor Meteor X Jung Jae Sung felt a little like a Li-Ning Woods N90.

Li-Ning Woods N80

First off, I want to just say that this racket looks like a dream. Gold and silver mixed in just right to form a very elegant piece of art. 

The Li-Ning N80 swings heck of a lot faster than the Meteor JJS. The sword-like design cuts through the air with a very satisfying swish. Add that to the slightly flexible shaft and you've got yourself a pretty good weapon.

I found the N80 quick on the defense but more importantly, wonderful in control. It seemed to be able to put out the shots that I wanted, easily and without my wrist taking too much trouble. Straight drives down the side tramlines were effortless, as were wrist smashes that could cover both sides of the court. 

The racket feels good to hold, and is really quite an experience to play with.

From the get-go it seems like the MX JJS will be more suited for doubles, while the N80 will be a really good singles racket.

Looking forward to reviewing them both.