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At the 2025 BWF World Championships in
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Paris, Victor Lie was about to do the
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After winning the first game in dominant
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fashion and having two match point
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opportunities in the second game, this
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20-year-old Canadian was on the verge of
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beating the world number one from China,
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But just as Victor Lie was about to make
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history, Shiuchi held his ground and
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made adjustments that completely turned
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the match around. Today we're going to
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analyze the semi-final match between
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Victor Lie and Shiuchi at the 2025 World
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Championships and talk about what made
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the match so close and the adjustments
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that ultimately led to Shiuchi's win.
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Now we actually want to start with the
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adjustment Shuuchi made that led him to
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win the match. Summed in one word, that
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adjustment is hold. How does he
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What was very noticeable at the start of
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the third game was how Shiuchi opted to
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slow down the pace of the game
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by using high lifts and blocking far.
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And in the back court, Shiuchi opted to
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change pace less and use shots like half
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smashes, slices, and even clears more
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often to allow for quicker followup
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toward the front court.
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In fact, this is exactly what the
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Chinese coaches told Shui to do.
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If you watch some of our videos on
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you'll know that we believe that some of
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Shiuchi's greatest strengths are his
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ability to use holds and change the type
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of shot he plays last second. By slowing
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down the pace of the game, Shiuchi can
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make use of his holds more often and
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play the game at a speed that he is
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comfortable playing it. And this is
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especially important when we consider
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what type of player Victor Lie is.
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What made Shiuchi struggle so much in
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the first and second games against
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Victor Lie and even a little bit in the
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third game was his decision to match and
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push the pace of the game. And what may
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have came as a surprise was that Victor
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Lie is a faster player than Shiuchi
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footwork and rhythm-wise
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and benefited significantly from Shiuchi
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playing his shots right away instead of
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holding. This lowered Shiuchi's shot
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quality and led him to make more
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mistakes. Shots like flatter lifts and
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pushes are easy for Victor to jump into
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and use his momentum to generate.
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Sometimes it still looks a little bit um
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Shuyuchi doesn't have many great
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responses to Victor's fast shots. All he
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can really do is just block or perhaps
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drive. But either way, he has to hit the
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shuttle right away. And because he hits
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the shuttle right away, Victor's rhythm
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is not broken and he can play into his
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strategy of changing pace at the net.
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What made things even worse for Shiuchi
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is that he also continued to speed up
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and play his strategy of changing pace
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to his around the head. Normally, this
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is Shiuchi's greatest weapon.
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But it is extremely difficult to execute
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the strategy against a player such as
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There are two main reasons that explain
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this. First, Victor Lie has great lift
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And second, Victor Li's defensive
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capabilities are amazing.
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High lifts make it difficult for Shiuchi
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to play because he cannot jump into a
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shot. He's often forced to wait before
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two-foot jumping and that's a struggle
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because he has to constantly decelerate
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The effect is as if you're driving a car
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in an area with a lot of traffic lights.
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It is very frustrating to break and
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reacelerate all the time. And more
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importantly, in this analogy,
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Playing against Victor lie is kind of
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like driving through an area with a lot
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You often have to wait before jumping
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And when you do attack, you must follow
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up right away. as Victor Li's defense is
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If a few small things went in Victor
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Victor Lie could have very well secured
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a spot in the finals.
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And if he could beat Shiuchi, it is
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entirely possible that he could have
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beat Kuma Viditsarn as well. But of
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course, things did not go in Victor's
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favor and Shiuchi made adjustments that
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Victor Lie does not have a deadly
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two-foot jump smash relative to other
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pros. And for someone like Shiuchi, who
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is nearly 10 years older than Lie and
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should theoretically have better racket
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skills, Shiuchi's strategy from the
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onset should have been to play patiently
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with good shot quality and control of
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the front court rather than speeding up
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the pace and trying to create
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opportunities to attack. Moreover, it's
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not nearly as much about playing toward
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your opponent's weaknesses as much as it
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is about playing toward your own
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strengths. And we should all learn to
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develop our skills to build upon what
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we're good at and play towards those
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strengths. If you liked the video, make
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sure to hit the like and subscribe
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button so you don't miss out on future
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content. Let us know in the comment
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section below what you thought about
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Shiuchi versus Victor L. And as always,
