Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Taking Another Look

The BWF just announced that they will be introducing a new line call challenge system at this year's Indonesia Open, which will involve high speed cameras and a new twist to the game. Coming from a player, I think it's a great idea to use the aide of technology when dealing with something black and white like line calls, however a small part of me is hesitant to embrace it.

I'm not sure if it's the traditionalist in me (if that's a thing) that appreciates the human aspect of honest-to-goodness people calling the lines as best as they can. Sure, mistakes will be made, but it goes both ways. Even review technology isn't perfect. Sometimes the camera's view might get obstructed and all you have to go by is the original line call and the umpire's judgement. 

Something bothers me about, in the middle of a game, a player stopping, thinking about a line call, taking a moment, challenging the call, sipping on water waiting for the result to come in, and then finally resuming play... It's like a sentence that gets dragged out too long with a bunch of commas. Hopefully the "instant challenge" of a line call won't take more than 5 seconds, so players can't use it to stall an opponent's momentum too much, and hopefully there will be a reasonable limit on the number of challenges a player/team is allowed. However, a review system would eliminate complaining about a line call, because all the umpire would need to say is "then just challenge it." This added degree of certainty to the game seems like it might at least keep the players in check.

Anyways, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough how this new system will affect the game. Football, Basketball, and our arch-rival, tennis, are all successful sports that use review technology, so I think it will be a good move for the sport. I know I'll be looking forward even more to the Indonesian Open to see the new system in action, and what the players' and fans' reactions are.

here's a link to the brief lil' article:

Keep it real, and have badmin-tons of fun today!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Weekend Wrap-up

It was quite an eventful weekend at the Peru International Challenge, but the reason I wanted to make a quick post was because in the men's singles semi final between Guatemala's Kevin Cordon and Cuba's Osleni Guerrero. The match was shaking up to be a battle of the two singles giants in the Pan Am Region until Kevin jumped to his forehand for a routine smash, but when he landed, his knee wobbled awkwardly and gave out. He crumpled to the ground and the stadium fell to silence as Guatemala's superstar was down for the count. In my opinion: it looked bad. Really bad. He was slapping the ground in pain and didn't want to bend his leg at all. After about 15 minutes he was lifted, with the help of his opponent, onto a stretcher, and carried to an ambulance outside. I'm not sure what happened after that, but hopefully it's nothing career-ending. He's a great ambassador to the sport, especially in South and Central America, and I hope he recovers quickly.

UPDATE: Looks like he tore his ACL, so he might be done. sad faces abound :(




Friday, April 12, 2013

Hola

Hola Badminton Square! I am currently in Miraflores, Peru for the Peru International Tournament, and also currently not your regular post-er, Natalie. My name is Curtis, and you could say I'm a bit of a badminton enthusiast as well. I've known the sport ever since I was little, and recently moved down to SoCal to train at OCBC for a year to see what becomes of it. I'm about half way through my year, and this was my first trip outside North America for a tournament.

From what I've gathered from having watched, and now played in, a few international tournaments, it's as much about how well you can adjust to the conditions as it is about your skills as a player. Entering the gym, there are gaps in the roof of the super high ceiling, allowing for an inconsistent draft to occur, as well as for pigeons to fly in and land on the court (happened during a teammate's match). There are a lot of things you have to adjust to, which is part of what "experience" means. An experienced player can learn how to play in a new gym as well as learn how to play their opponent.

Anyways, I got knocked out of the tournament in a close first round singles game, and later lost in the doubles quarter finals to a team from Holland. What I am excited for now is watching the semi final matches tomorrow and learning more about the game, as well as possibly getting out to enjoy the oceanside town of Miraflores; a suburb of Lima... that is if I survive the cab rides. Almost all the cars on the road are taxis, and almost all of them are absolutely crazy drivers. The roads are buzzing with organized chaos and the sound of horns, but somehow everyone is on the same page, and there are no accidents.

If you want to follow the rest of the tournament, which includes a handful of Olympians, you can find the draws here: http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=E2F957A3-E155-4EFD-A6A1-10C1F19D97DA

If you have any badminton-related questions about anything, feel free to leave a comment. I'm sort of stretching my legs out with this whole blog thing and would love to see how far we can run with it.


Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Badminton, fashion, and doing it all wrong.

I was flipping through Bazaar today and saw this nifty ad by Hermès:


Hermès Spring 2013

Beautiful, isn't it? Except, if she were really playing badminton, she would probably fall into the water and ruin her outfit.  Besides, where'd her doubles partner go? And if there are so many birds on the ground, that must mean that she's in a training session. Not doing so well now, are we?

Jokes aside, badminton is considered an honor sport and has historically been played by the wealthy, giving it a very prestigious feel to it, hence the expensive outfit. Although this is the first ad with badminton that I've posted, there have been plenty more-- have you seen any lately?