0:00
after a rather one-sided match against
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Victor axelon two days prior to this
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game the player from China leilan shei
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revenge and here's how he did
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it a key difference between these two
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matches is how early leilan shei is
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taking the net when playing against a
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dangerous back court like axelon it is
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very important to try to gain the
0:22
initiative by taking the net early this
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might mean sacrificing the back court a
0:26
little and focusing a little more on the
0:31
if we compare Lay's Rhythm side by side
0:33
we can see that in the Hong Kong open he
0:35
was slower when moving towards the net
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this affected his shot choice and often
0:38
ended up with Victor smashing through
0:47
up in China open however he contacts
0:50
every shot above this line
1:06
with leilan shei taking the net earlier
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he pushes the rhythm of the game this is
1:10
extremely important to defeating
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somebody like Victor who has a very
1:13
stable and solid defense you need to try
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to take them out of their comfortable
1:17
Rhythm and that can be interpreted as a
1:20
delay because when you're standing there
1:24
then you're basically ready so you
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shouldn't start moving your arms but we
1:28
can compare the rhythm of bad mitton to
1:30
the beat of a song At first the song
1:32
sounds normal but as we increase the
1:34
tempo or Rhythm it becomes more
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distorted and chaotic this is the same
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for badminton in this rally you can see
1:41
how Victor has a specific Rhythm that he
2:00
now compare this to the faster rhythm in
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open this is how a lot of other players
2:18
well unbelievable how did he get that
2:34
now that we've discussed lean's Rhythm
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it is important to see what type of
2:37
shots he is playing let's take a look at
2:39
the net first Le he came of Ag and
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really in the Hong Kong open leelan shei
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played more toward axelson's backourt in
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an attempt to control him
3:06
defense however in the China open when
3:08
axelon played to the front Leoni often
3:11
played back to the front and one of his
3:13
favorite shots is the crossnet on his
3:26
side that's a great r
3:46
good the goal of this shot is to get
3:48
axelon to bend his back on his backhand
3:50
front court side this will be very
3:52
energy sapping for a bigger body like
3:53
axelon the Chinese player also used this
3:56
shot frequently in the Hong Kong open
3:58
against Victor however earlier in the
4:00
video we mentioned the height at which
4:02
he takes the shuttle this makes a huge
4:04
difference the higher L can take the
4:07
shuttle the more angle the shuttle is
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good now if leilon she plays back to the
4:22
net a lot axelon will be waiting for him
4:24
at the net but this opens up the back
4:41
now that we've briefly discussed the
4:43
Chinese player's front Court let's move
4:44
to his back court we noticed a big
4:46
difference in the amount of clearing
4:47
between the two games at the Hong Kong
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open Le Loni would play many more easy
4:52
High clears which gave axelon too much
4:54
time to set up for his smash this is
4:56
especially dangerous against someone
4:58
like axelon who can produce such steep
5:00
angles while maintaining his
5:10
so however in the China open on his
5:12
forehand side lean shei opted to play
5:14
down in the back and watch the front
5:23
court but on his back hand Le lanii
5:25
would often play the crosscourt clear
5:27
this shot is very good because it is
5:29
unexpected and can often switch a
5:31
defensive situation into an attacking
5:33
situation in one shot however the caveat
5:36
of this shot is that it must be played
5:37
with excellent shot quality which leilon
5:40
she definitely had that was just I think
5:43
he you can see axelon waiting at the net
5:46
he can cover these three corners talked
5:50
up yeah and she and he can use
5:55
it next let's mention lean's attacking
5:58
play ultimately what allowed leiloni to
6:01
break through axelson's defense wasn't
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his smash but his ability to disguise
6:05
his shots in the back court and hence
6:07
allowed him to bring axelon into the
6:09
front court with his slices and Drop
6:10
shots the Chinese had very good
6:13
variation which made it difficult for
6:14
axelon to guess what shot was coming
6:25
next it's a very good one
6:33
next we want to look a little at Le
6:35
Lan's shot placement in this game what
6:37
really stood out to us was that lean
6:38
shei was practically hitting all of his
6:40
neutral shots in the middle it reduces
6:42
the shot angle from axelson's Return of
6:44
shot and minimiz his mistakes but it
6:46
also makes it much easier for leiloni to
6:49
follow up it also targets the body of
6:51
Victor axelon who is taller and bigger
6:53
which consequently makes it more
6:55
difficult to defend the body that is why
6:57
it's not as helpful to play towards the
6:58
side against somebody like Victor since
7:01
he's so tall and very mobile for
7:02
somebody that tall he is able to reach
7:04
the sides relatively easily that's why
7:07
leilan shei focuses more on moving him
7:12
back and we can see this kind of style
7:14
in many players that have played axelon
7:15
and have beaten him take this clip of
7:17
chotian Chen for example look how Cho
7:20
Chen's shots are mostly in the middle
7:22
and watch how he's able to follow up
7:35
but hitting towards the middle is also
7:36
very good for neutral shots like the
7:38
block or the lift as mentioned earlier
7:40
in this video it cuts off the angle of
7:42
the return but it is also naturally a
7:44
very awkward position to hit from in
7:46
these clips you can see that not only is
7:48
it difficult for axlon to smash toward
7:50
the lines but it is also too easy for
7:52
him to make a mistake so he puts it back
7:55
into the center where leilan shei is
8:04
o that was how Le Lan was able to defend
8:10
smashes we can compare this to the Hong
8:13
Kong open as well where the Chinese was
8:15
lifting more towards the sidelines and
8:16
in return got Steep and accurate smashes
8:18
from axelon this made it very hard for
8:29
we've discussed his shot placement shot
8:31
selection and Rhythm and now we want to
8:33
summarize this as leilon shei strategy
8:35
learning from his previous game leilan
8:37
shei realized that playing a control
8:39
style was ultimately going to get him
8:41
nowhere as axelon is one of the best at
8:43
punishing these types of styles
8:46
understanding this Leoni would adjust
8:47
his game to push axelson's Rhythm to do
8:50
this he had to control the net he
8:51
ultimately had to sacrifice some
8:53
initiative on the back court to
8:54
capitalize on the front Court he would
8:56
then play tighter shots to the net and
8:58
fast cross Nets that often set him up
9:00
for opportunities in the back and when
9:02
these opportunities presented themselves
9:04
he had many options slices stop drops
9:06
and full smashes towards the body made
9:08
it extremely difficult for axelon to
9:10
guess what was to come however at a
9:12
level like this it is important to note
9:13
that the rally will never end that
9:15
easily so leilanii was also ready to
9:17
follow up he did all of this while
9:19
restricting axelon from utilizing his
9:21
Steep and accurate attack by playing his
9:23
pushes more toward the middle and in a
9:58
good even though he lost in the
10:00
quarterfinals he took his revenge
10:02
against the Olympic gold medalist and
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that is an accomplishment in its own
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right did this result surprise you after
10:07
the result from the Hong Kong open let
10:08
us know in the comments
10:15
below wait patiently for his opponent to
10:19
additionally if you guys like this video
10:21
make sure to hit the like And subscribe
10:22
button and as always thank you guys for
