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Two badminton players always worth studying are Lee Chong Wei and Kento Momota. In the 2018 Malaysia Open finals, 35-year-old Lee Chong Wei beat prime Kento Momota using a distinct strategy that was executed almost flawlessly. As badminton players, we can watch this game and learn a lot from Lee Chong Wei's shot choices to generate ideas for our own badminton strategies. Today, we'll be analyzing when 35 year old Lee Chong Wei beat prime Kento Momota and the strategy Lee Chong Wei used to win the match.
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0:00
when we talk about Badminton Legends one
0:01
name that often comes to mind is Lee
0:03
Chong way in 2018 35-year-old Lee Chong
0:07
way played an insane match where he won
0:09
against Prime Kento mamota in the
0:10
Malaysia open finals he played
0:12
phenomenally with a distinct strategy
0:14
that broke down Mota's game today we're
0:17
going to study that strategy and share
0:19
some things that Lee Chong way did that
0:21
we can do in our own
0:26
games Le Chong Way's strategy against
0:29
Kento Mota was simple at its core but
0:32
how he executed it was incredible the
0:34
core of the strategy was to Target
0:36
mimo's backhand but as you all may know
0:39
simply hitting to your opponent's
0:40
backhand especially if that opponent is
0:43
mamota is not going to work you need to
0:45
play shots and combos that eventually
0:47
force your opponent to use his backhand
0:49
and continue pressuring until you win
0:51
off mistakes or kills in the first seven
0:53
rallies Le Chong way was pretty
0:54
obviously playing to mimo's backhand
1:02
a 12th title that is exactly oneir of
1:06
all men's singles Titles since the open
1:11
era of the Malaysian Open that's
1:13
staggering it's a long time to be on top
1:17
of your game on top of everybody else's
1:22
[Applause]
1:25
game I must say though that uh I uh
1:28
doubted a little bit I have m is the
1:30
favored
1:31
[Applause]
1:35
here he's
1:46
right that's going wide at 4 to3 however
1:50
Lee Chong way sees that mamoto was
1:52
playing a lot of winners from his around
1:53
the head straight smash simply playing
1:56
to mima's backhand side was not enough
1:58
which is why Le Chong way begins to play
2:00
a lot more straight pushes from his
2:02
forehand side and cross blocks from his
2:04
backhand
2:07
side is a
2:18
tech be difficult for the mation to
2:21
create the uh possibilities he needs on
2:24
the front Court to kill
2:29
[Applause]
2:34
good
2:43
ride that's what
2:46
[Music]
3:06
[Applause]
3:08
[Music]
3:26
[Applause]
3:33
the idea is to open up the court more
3:35
and move mamota to his forehand side
3:37
first so that a push or slice to the
3:39
backhand becomes more effective one
3:41
thing that we would like to point out
3:42
here is the small hold that Lee Chong
3:44
way does before playing his pushes it
3:47
makes mimo's movements more unstable as
3:49
he needs to wait for Lee Chong way to
3:50
hit before moving Lee Chong expertly
3:53
combines these holds with also hitting
3:55
the shot instantly to throw off Mota's
3:57
Rhythm and make it extremely difficult
4:00
to play at this point however mamota has
4:02
started reading Lee Chong Way's shots
4:04
and strategies you can see how he's
4:06
become more focused on the push timing
4:08
and ready to jump out and
4:12
[Applause]
4:22
attack oh yes thus Lee Chong way needs
4:26
to keep mimoda guessing you may have
4:28
noticed that LE Chong way has not yet
4:30
played any straight drops from his
4:32
forehand side so far only cross slices
4:35
smashes clears and drives have been
4:38
played even if it's instinctively mimoda
4:40
has moved closer to his backhand and
4:42
further back in anticipation of these
4:44
shots and that's how Lee Chong way
4:47
begins punishing mimoda with a straight
4:49
forehand reverse
4:51
slice now I do want to mention that
4:53
mimoda made adjustments of his own
4:55
you'll see that mimoda opts to block
4:57
middle a lot more and generally further
4:59
to anticipate the back court and attack
5:01
you'll also notice that mimoda goes for
5:03
a lot of rep pushes to the same side the
5:05
idea is to catch Le Chong way on his
5:07
recovery and then attack the likely
5:09
slower shot that comes
5:11
back these adjustments weren't enough
5:13
though as Le Chong way ultimately takes
5:15
the first game and builds a sizable lead
5:18
in the
5:20
[Applause]
5:24
second there it was again get done by
5:27
leing way
5:30
was the
5:32
2015 at around 13 to6 in the second game
5:35
however Lee Chong way does lose his
5:37
focus a little bit his Pace slows down
5:39
quite a bit which leads to six straight
5:41
points for mamota this highlights just
5:43
how strong of an opponent mamota was
5:46
losing just a little bit of focus is
5:47
enough for mimoda to begin coming back
5:49
that being said Lee Chong way does
5:51
regain his focus and adds one more thing
5:53
to his strategy lobs and tight
5:58
blocks these shots were very effective
6:01
at this stage in the match because
6:02
mimoda had already gotten used to
6:04
playing behind the service line against
6:05
faster paced shots just the little bit
6:07
of extra distance that mimoda has to
6:09
move to will often Force mimoda to play
6:11
a lift or make a mistake trying to play
6:13
a net and it's super important that Lee
6:15
Chong way chooses the stage of the match
6:17
to play more of these shots aob is a
6:20
super risky shot Lee Chong way could
6:23
easily make a mistake on the shot which
6:25
is why he's playing it after many
6:26
rallies have passed when he's more
6:27
comfortable with the playing conditions
6:29
the second thing is that mima's Nets are
6:31
a strong part of his game normally these
6:33
lobs would be prime opportunities for
6:35
mimoda to play a spin net and probably
6:37
win off smashing the lift but because he
6:40
was used to playing against shots past
6:42
the service line these lobs become very
6:44
difficult to deal
6:48
[Applause]
6:51
with Lee Chong way did play out of his
6:54
mind to beat Prime mamota at 35 years
6:57
old especially considering he was
6:59
diagnosed with nose cancer weeks later
7:01
even knowing Le Chong Way's strategy was
7:03
not enough mamota was anticipating but
7:06
somehow Lee Chong way would play the
7:08
straight when mamota was guessing cross
7:10
and play the cross when mamota was
7:11
guessing straight despite this however
7:14
the score was very close a net rle that
7:16
did not go in Le Chong Way's favor could
7:17
have easily turned this match into a
7:19
three set game where mamota probably had
7:21
a higher chance of winning due to
7:23
Stronger physical at the time since the
7:25
match was so close there is one small
7:27
thing we believe mamota could have done
7:28
to drastically increase the chances of
7:30
him winning that thing is to play a
7:32
cross shot on Le Chong Way's cross more
7:34
often one reason Le Chong way was able
7:36
to win this match was because mimo's
7:38
shots were relatively predictable after
7:41
playing a straight shot be ready for the
7:43
cross after playing a cross shot be
7:46
ready for the straight normally you want
7:48
to make your opponents run more right if
7:50
your opponent plays a cross slice or
7:52
Smash It makes a lot of sense to block
7:55
straight and force them to Sprint across
7:57
the whole Court however the thing is
7:59
that all pro players generally know this
8:01
as well they know that if they play a
8:03
cross shot they have to prepare to run
8:05
the cross to get the next shot when you
8:08
watch le Chong Way's positioning after
8:09
playing a cross shot you'll notice that
8:11
he's always prepared to cover the
8:12
straight return if mamota held his
8:14
racket facing straight for a half second
8:16
and then last minute played across Le
8:19
Chong way would have had to quickly
8:20
change direction which is often more
8:22
tiring even if it's a shorter distance
8:24
traveled Lee Chong way also would have
8:26
been more likely to take the shuttle
8:27
lower which makes it easier from mimoda
8:30
to either push him to the back from the
8:31
net or attack the lifts we can see how
8:34
it worked for mamota a few
8:35
[Applause]
8:38
times that
8:42
[Applause]
8:44
must the problem is that mimoda only did
8:47
this like three times in the whole match
8:50
if he did it a few more times
8:51
particularly in response to Lee Chong
8:53
ways around the head reverse cross in
8:55
addition to a few more cross smashes
8:57
from his back court then the story might
8:59
have have been different as Lee Chong
9:00
way would have needed to respect the
9:02
cross shot more but this is all very
9:04
hard to predict and even more difficult
9:06
to think about when you're playing in a
9:07
tournament
9:10
finals although Lee Chong Way's strategy
9:13
against mimoda was very simple the
9:15
execution was detailed and layered the
9:17
goal was to play to Mota's backhand and
9:19
punish loose shots that he plays from
9:20
there simply playing to Mota's backhand
9:23
was not going to be enough first Lee
9:25
Chong way had to open up the court first
9:27
and bring mimoda to his forehand side he
9:29
did this by playing a lot of backhand
9:31
cross blocks and clears and pushes
9:32
toward Mota's forehand executing this
9:35
strategy required a lot of small holds
9:37
and Pace changes to prevent mamota from
9:39
smoothly moving and easily attacking Lee
9:41
Chong way did this extremely well which
9:44
was why it always felt like Le Chong way
9:45
was in control of the rallies and to top
9:47
things off at certain points in the game
9:50
Le Chong way adds shots like straight
9:52
reverse slices and lobs to punish MIM
9:55
moda's overcommitment to certain shots
9:58
making Le Chong Way's game predictable
10:00
and nearly impossible for mimoda to play
10:02
against we're not all as technically
10:04
gifted or skilled like Le Chong way to
10:06
execute his specific strategy but there
10:08
are a few takeaways we can apply at any
10:10
level first start with a game plan in
10:12
mind many players make the mistake of
10:14
trying to do everything and end up
10:16
making unforced errors having a game
10:18
plan will also help make your movement
10:20
smoother as there are shots that are
10:22
generally more expected based on the
10:24
shot you play if you know what shot
10:26
you're going to play you should also
10:27
know what the likely returns are going
10:29
going to be and prepare yourself for
10:31
those returns second if your game plan
10:33
doesn't go the way you want it to go
10:35
that's okay don't panic and switch
10:38
strategies instead start adding layers
10:40
to it like playing to another Corner
10:42
first and then playing to the corner you
10:44
want to Target and if you ultimately
10:46
lose the gamer match that's okay too you
10:50
know that your strategy or your skills
10:52
required to execute the strategy were
10:54
not good enough and you have specific
10:56
things you can point to that went wrong
10:58
which means means now you have specific
11:01
things you can work on in practice to
11:03
level up your game much faster compared
11:05
to doing a little bit of
11:07
everything if you like this video please
11:09
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11:14
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11:22
[Music]