Badminton Racket First Impressions: Li-Ning Air-Stream N55-III

Had a swing with the racket this evening at a singles session and decided to write a little about it since I managed to get enough play time to get a good first sense.

First off, this is one pretty racket. Along with the rest of the Li-Ning N-III series rackets, the N55-III comes in two variations - Gold / Purple and Silver / Black.

This one here's the Gold / Purple version.

Now that you're done drooling over the sneak peak, it's down to talking about the performance.

The Li-Ning Air-Stream N55-III comes off as a very head heavy racket. Very. I had a little difficulty getting used to the weight, and for about two to three games in I was still thinking that the racket is too heavy for its own good.

And then the jump smash happened.

What's special about this racket is the Air-Stream technology, where holes are cut into the head frame to allow a higher level of aero-dynamism.

What it does it it manages to pull off a very fast downward stroke very quickly, which means that the shots come down steep and fast. I managed to pull off quite the angle with my jump smashes today. 

Defense-wise it doesn't come off very impressive, what being a monster at the head heavy department and all. I've to test this out in a fast game of doubles before I say anything about this though.

But all in all, the racket surprised me with the steepness and speed of the attacks that it produces. Heavy heads pull off clears quite well so I won't touch on that for now.

More with the review.

New Hotness: Li-Ning N90-III and N55-III

Just. Couldn't. Resist.

First impressions soon.

New Badminton Racket Launch: Yonex Nanoray Z-Speed

As most of you would have heard by now, Yonex's latest racket has set another world record for fastest badminton hit of 493 km/h. That means at the moment of contact, the shuttle moved at that speed.

We've seen the malaysian men's doubles pair use it in the 2013 BWF World Championship, and here it is, finally unveiled.

Photo: www.yonex.com/nanoray

Slated for release 13 Sept slightly before the Yonex Japan Open, this stunned in deep orange looks set to top the sales chart and give Li-Ning a run for its money.

This one comes with a whole array of new technologies that Yonex claims can increase swing speed by 10%, hence increasing your smash speed.

One of the more interesting techs is the snap back zone, which means they've made the 3 and 9 o'clock of the head frame a little thinner to allow a sudden snapping motion from your smash, translating that into greater force.

I've extracted these from their site to make for easier reading. All images extracted from www.yonex.com/nanoray

The racket comes in 2U and 3U, and can take up to a recommended tension of 28lbs for the 2U and 27lbs for the 3U. That means you probably can string it to the low 30lbs range if you're the tension crazy sort.

They've even got a nice video to tell you about their new achievement. Watch the video and learn about the technologies behind the Yonex Nanoray Z-Speed.

Looking forward to this? More to come.

Badminton Racket First Impressions: Yonex ArcSaber 2 Tour

This turned out to be quite a lucky find. I was rummaging through the box of on-offer rackets that the stringer has and chanced upon this "Made in Japan" ArcSaber.

So I got it and put a yellow grip around it to make it pretty. My buddy (who beat me three straight games in singles tonight, kudos!) made a remark that the racket seems a bit light.

And he was proven right when I brought it to the court for testing. The clears weren't coming across during stroking, and the backhands were terrible.

The whole thing just seemed to lack strength.

So the time came for me to take this to the court. Oh how the ArcSaber 2 Tour redeemed itself!

I wasn't able to use much backhand clears (I substituted them with the tight drop shot), but the control that this racket has is amazing.

Anywhere on the court, I could place the shuttle reasonably well. The smashes from this also came off very sharply.

Overall a nice tight racket. I may not recommend a long clearing game with this, but for those players hungry for control this will be a blast.

Of course I'll wait about  6-hours before commiting to a review. We all know how some rackets have a habit of losing their charm after the first impression.

Till soon.

New Strings: Pro-Kennex Pro Flex 63

Saw these while I was at the stringer's today, and got a pair to try because they come in really cool carbon colors.

Got one strung at 25lbs and one at 27lbs. As with the rest of the Pro-Kennex strings, this one offers very good repulsion, and at first try the one strung at 27lbs seemed to offer a bit more control (the shuttle doesn't freely fly off from the string bed when I juggle it).

Problem with this string is that the 0.63mm thickness might make it a little less durable than most.

Will the feel and power from this string overcome the downside of less durability? More to come.

Badminton Racket Review: Li-Ning TurboCharging N9 Fu Hai Feng

First impressions here.

What first struck me was the design of the racket (what else, right?), and also the amount of flex that Li-Ning gave to it. They're a fan of stiff rackets, but this one came across with a medium flex feel, which made me feel good.

About time they made head heavy rackets with a slightly flexible shaft.

The results were notably good, with the N9 performing well in many areas of the court. If you're looking for a slightly flexible N90 without the overly head-heavy distribution of the N90-II, this one might be a choice for you.

The N9 also comes with a rather innovative head shape. It's sword shaped on the top half, but cuts inwards to form a armored shaft ala the Nanoray 700RP. This gives it a very unique feel - it brings the head weight distribution slightly lower towards the t-joint, makes the swings a little faster, but delivers the punch because of the heavier and more stable t-joint area.

This would a lot more welcome if they were to win the BWF World Championships, but this is a good racket that's worth shouting about so here goes.

Note. This review is my opinion of the racket for my use. Take this with a pinch of salt since I don't play the game as well as most of you out there. I'm here to tell you, in as much accuracy as I can, how my games went with this racket. Comments welcome!

Ok here goes.

Li-Ning TurboCharging N9 Fu Hai Feng
Est. Dry Weight: 89g (3U)
Grip Size: S2
Balance: Head Heavy
Stiffness: Medium
Strings: Yonex Nanogy 98 @ 25lbs

I recommend this racket for heavy smashers (it's made for use by Fu Hai Feng, people).

Defense
Anyone who's ever used a head heavy racket and compared it to a head light one would tell you how it usually swings slower. This slower swing speed is compensated with a heavier block towards the back court.

Remember what I said about the unique head shape of the N9? This comes into play when I try to explain why this racket isn't as slow as I had initially thought it would be.

The Li-Ning TurboCharging N9 Fu Hai Feng feels like an even balanced racket on the defense. This is largely due to the weight distribution closer to the t-joint instead of being at the very top.

The racket suffers less from the slower swing than its head heavier counterparts, but has enough mass at the t-joint to deliver a good lift to the back if needed.

From lifts to blocks and drives, the N9 performs admirably in the games that I've given it. The medium flex might take a little more power from the hard blocks, but overall I was pretty impressed with how fast it responded.

Attack
"TurboCharging" and "Fu Hai Feng" sounds like this racket has steroids imbued into its graphite. The sadistic thing is that it actually feels like it does.

Attacking strokes with this racket feels true and powerful. The heavier t-joint gives you a very good accuracy on the smashes and the drives, and this is always a nice gift to someone who doesn't rely much on attacking like myself.

I've always been a fan of flexibility in the shaft when it comes to giving that long big swing to smash it home. It was made the Yonex Voltric 70 a winner, and it is what makes the Li-Ning N9 such a potent attacking racket.

Very powerful attacks.

Control
Here's when it sounds a little too good to be true. The Li-Ning TurboCharging N9 Fu Hai Feng actually gives you a pretty decent aim, given its propensity to put its users into overdrive berserk mode.

I give kudos to the solid t-joint (I have got to figure out what they call this head frame shape...).

Ok I just checked the racket and it's called the Dynamic-Optimum Frame.

So kudos to the solid Dynamic-Optimum Frame, which grants this racket the accuracy without losing out much on the power. Rackets that feature variations of this technology (i.e. Yonex Voltric series, Nanoray 700RP) tend to also be devastating in both attack and accuracy, and the N9 doesn't come across as any much different.

When I take a shot, I tell myself where I want the shuttle to go, move to the shuttle, swing, and see how it turns out.

The N9 gave me very few surprises. Nice.

Looks
Black and gold adorns the entire racket, making this a very majestic beast. Li-Ning rackets have progressively improve in design (seriously, has anyone seen the first generation N50?), and this is a tremendous effort in making badminton look sexy.

Li-Ning TurboCharging N9 Fu Hai Feng

Defense: 8

Attack: 10

Control: 9

Looks: 10

Badminton Racket First Impressions: Li-Ning TurboCharging N9 Fu Hai Feng

So this was the other racket that I brought to the singles session last night. And here is my first impressions on this.

The Li-Ning N9 is a slick racket, with black and gold adorning the entire racket from the head down the shaft, fading to an elegant white at the cone.

At first handling the racket felt very heavy, characteristic of the Fu Hai Feng playing style of hard shuttle smashing. The head wasn't very mobile when I tried to juggle the shuttle around, and initial thoughts of a slow defending come to me.

Flashback to when I first started with the Yonex Armortec 900 Power, and all the useless attempts at defense with its ridiculously heavy head.

But then again it's been a few years, and I think the racket makers have learnt a little lesson with head heavy rackets.

The Li-Ning TurboCharging N9 Fu Hai Feng comes with a unique head shape, the top half resembling the sword shape that allows you to cut through the air with ease, the bottom half reversing to an armored frame that resembles the Yonex Voltric series, adding to the weight and stability for the downswing and resultant destructive aftermath.

This gives rise to a potentially powerful racket, and it shows by the lack of effort needed from one to sent the shuttle to the back of the court. From high forehand clears to the backhand straights, the racket does the shots with ease.

The natural downward momentum of the N9 also makes quick drop shots an ease to execute. A small swing is all you need to start the strong, and the pressure applied at the gripping point gives you the length and sharpness you'll need for that deceptive shot.

What didn't come across was the powerful smash. Since it was singles and my playing style really isn't the heavy hitting sort, I can't say much about the racket's power.

However, the Li-Ning N9 does have a natural whip to it, owing to the slightly flexible shaft, and this brings back memories of the Yonex Voltric 70 and it's powerful smashes.

I'll have to take this to doubles tomorrow to find out :)

Review soon.

Badminton Racket First Impressions: Li-Ning 3D Break-Free 80 Speed

The first time I tried this racket I couldn't get a good feel as I was playing in a really big hall and the shuttle speed really put me off the game.

Everything that came off the Li-Ning 3D Break-Free 80 Speed seemed to lack the power and sharpness that came with it's higher-end counterpart.

But I finally got a chance to put it to a proper test today on the singles court, and I can say that I'm rather impressed with the results.

Like the N80, the 3D Break-Free 80 Speed swings fast and true. The speed I could get off the racket is alarming, and it helped boost the shot strength significantly. However, I do want to note that the clears coming off this racket sometimes seem a little short, and that opens you up to the heavier attacks from the opponent's mid-court.

This is not much of a problem though, what with the increased defense capabilities of the racket.

Having such a fast swing speed also meant that defense gets a natural boost. I can remember a few times when I could throw off the opponent with a well-timed swing following some wicked reflex.

Somehow, I move faster when yielding lighter rackets, and the 80 Speed does weigh in a little less than the N80, so I found moving around the court with the silver racket an ease.

As expected from a lighter racket, the smashes didn't seem powerful enough, thought targeting isn't a problem. I was able to place the shots well enough to get decent second attacks, but the hard hitters were returned without much of a hassle from the opponent.

Comparing that to the N80, it's a world of difference.

Overall I did enjoy the session with the Li-Ning 3D Break-Free 80 Speed. I had another racket with me, but I ended up using this more because I wanted to see where this could take me.

Review soon.

New hotness: Li-Ning TurboCharging N9 Fu Hai Feng

Went shoe shopping and ended up with a new racket from Li-Ning's latest series. Branded as Fu Ha Feng's racket, the N9 comes with a rather flexible shaft and a heavy head. Comes paired with Cai Yun's N7 counterpart.

Looks awesome too.

BWF Badminton World Championship 2013

The badminton world championship 2013 is scheduled to be held next month in August. Nearly 400 of the world's top ranked players are expected to participate in the tournament, which will be held in Guangzhou in China from 05-Aug-2013 to 11-Aug-2013.

The tournament is held once every year, and is the most prestigious tournament in the badminton world, and the winners get the honour of being officially known as the 'world champion'.

Here's the list of Indian players who will be playing at the BWF badminton world championships 2013.

Men's singles event
P Kashyap
Ajay Jayaram

Women's singles event
Saina Nehwal
PV Sindhu

Women's doubles
Ashwini Ponnappa and Pradnya Gadre
Aparna Balan and N.Sikki Reddy

Men's doubles
Tarun Kona and Arun Vishnu
Akshay Dewalkar and Pranav Chopra

This is the first time ever that India has been able to field such a big contingent of badminton players for the world championship tournament. Only the top 50 players in the world in each event are eligible to play at the tournament, and hence this strong team is an ample indication of India's growing strength in the world of badminton.

The last time that players from India had won a medal at this prestigious tournament was when Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa had won the bronze medal at the 2011 BWF badminton world championships that was held at London two years back.

Saina Nehwal has got a relatively easy draw at the championships and the first Chinese player that she is likely to play against is in the semi-finals. As per the tournament rules, all players reaching the semi-finals are assured of at least a bronze medal.