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Chotin Chen just caught his fourth win
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against the world number one, Kunlav
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Vittzarn, winning in a rather dominant
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fashion in straight sets. This is the
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same Choten Chen who is now 35 years old
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and still playing as explosively as
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ever. So in this video, we want to take
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a look into this game and break down how
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Chinchen uses his athletic ability in
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combination with the drift to win.
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A major challenge to players, not only
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on the BWF World Tour, but to all
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players who compete, is adjusting to a
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tournament venue. And a big factor for
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pros to consider is excess wind in the
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stadium. In a tournament like the China
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Open, where the venue is extremely large
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to accommodate a large number of
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viewers, the drift is quite apparent.
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So, how do you play in these conditions?
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When dealing with any drifty conditions,
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it is important to play more of an
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attacking style. style as the drift
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makes it harder to control the shuttle,
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especially on lifts and clears. This is
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very apparent when there is frontto back
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drift. You know, it's hard to control
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when even pro players who play this
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sport for their entire life make these
1:17
Thus, players will often opt to play
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faster, flatter shots like pushes and
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drives that are easier to control
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instead of shots that rely so much on
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shot quality to be effective. This
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change of shot choice consequently
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speeds up the pace of the game. It is in
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these fast conditions where Chian can
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Because he is so explosive, he can often
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reach the shuttle by performing a jump
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out and attack the shuttle from there.
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This jumpout smash is very difficult to
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defend as the shuttle is often being
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intercepted in the midcourt. So, the
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shuttle does not have much time to slow
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down before reaching the other side. So,
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it's in your best interest to try and
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prevent them from playing these jumpout
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smashes. But that's the problem. To
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prevent your opponent from playing these
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jumpout smashes, you need to lift the
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shuttle over them, which requires a
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great deal of control on the shuttle.
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But due to the windy conditions, it's
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very difficult for Vidsarn to control
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his depth on his pushes.
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Another way to prevent your opponent
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from playing jumpout smashes is to play
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the net. This means taking your chances
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at the net and netting back your
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opponent's net. Of course, this is very
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risky, but one way to reduce the risk is
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to take the shuttle earlier. The higher
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you can take the shuttle at the net, the
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less risk there is in your next shot.
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The importance of taking the net early
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becomes amplified when the court
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conditions are not ideal. Notice how Cho
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is always the one taking initiative at
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the net in these rallies.
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And if you can net back successfully,
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you can open up the back court.
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But what's interesting is that
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the latest stages of the tournament,
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another important note is that after
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pushing them to their late back court,
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you can focus more on the front. In
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drifty conditions like the China Open,
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it is extremely difficult to play a
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highquality clear, especially when late.
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So, the pros will move up and camp the
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How the first game went
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with the way men's singles is right now,
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ranking doesn't really matter. The
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outcome of a match is often decided by
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how well one can adjust to the court
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conditions and who is the better player
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on the day. One thing we can take away
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from this match between Choten Chen and
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Kunov Vitsarn is that some styles
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perform better under different
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conditions. If you are playing in windy
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conditions, then it's in your best
3:47
interest to play a more aggressive
3:48
style. And that is exactly what Cho did
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to win this match. By using more energy
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to take the shuttle early and playing an
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attacking style, Cho is able to minimize
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his mistakes while making Vidarn take
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the shuttle lower, ultimately forcing
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more errors from the Thai athlete.
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Yep, it's one long shot.
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If you like this video, make sure to hit
4:14
the like and subscribe button. Let us
4:16
know in the comments if there are any
4:18
other exciting matches you want to see
4:20
covered. And as always, thank you for
