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Cho Tien Shen who is 34 years old and a
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cancer survivor is not only beating
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younger opponents but also higher ranked
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ones but how is this possible in this
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video we will cover how choen Chen beats
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the number eight seed Kai naraoka in the
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2024 dhatu Japan open but first let's
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examine some of kodai's strengths we
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need to know what he does well to
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understand how Cho makes the game easy
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for him kodai's biggest strength has to
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be his retrieval skills at times playing
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kodai literally looks like they are
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playing against a wall he gets
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here let's see again if karok can do
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something here he's in
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trouble covers well when playing kodai
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it is very easy to Simply follow his
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Pace this is exactly what kodai wants as
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he is completely fine with the rallies
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going longer gear arope can pick up
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speed when he's in trouble in defense
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up very rarely gets under it in his
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D so he plays a four corner rally style
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that aims to test his opponent in a
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battle of attrition he often wins points
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off unforced errors from his opponents
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then shouldn't this theoretically make
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Cho a good match for kada as Cho is
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someone who has recently overcome cancer
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and is approaching his mid-30s it is
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quite odd that their head-to-head could
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be so one-sided so how exactly does he
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it first let's take a look at chotian
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Chen's footwork his style is very
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similar to that of Lee Chong way in
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which he watches first and then moves
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look how he waits after playing this
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lob if you look at these two clips you
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can see the similarities between ch
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Chens and Lee Chong Way's
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footwork when looking at these clips we
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need to analyze when one speeds up his
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movement and when they slow
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down you can see that right when the
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opponent hits the shuttle the movement
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is sped up and Cho pushes off hard to
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get to the shuttle early they then slow
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down their movement as they are about to
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contact the shuttle to increase the
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control that they have over the
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bird if you're able to perfect the
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timing of the split step with this type
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of footwork your footwork will become
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very efficient and smooth if we look at
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Players like kodai or Laken you will
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notice that they always return back to
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the center while this helps them
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maintain a rhythmic style of Play It
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hinders their ability to change the pace
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another benefit of this footwork is the
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ability to reduce the number of
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steps this is because you watch the
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shuttle wait for it to be hit and then
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moving it will enable you to change Pace
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more effectively and catch your
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opponents off guard we can see in this
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rally that Cho Waits at the net after
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pushing Kodi to the back
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however to do this you also need to
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anticipate the next shot your opponent
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will play in the first game of the 2024
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Japan open you can see that Kodi
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repeatedly targets chose 4 hand side
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C oh that's this is why Cho begins to
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anticipate his forehand by preemptively
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turning his hips and shifting his right
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leg back this will allow him to move to
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that forehand Corner more
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aggressively notice in this rally Cho
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drives the shuttle to nara's backand
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normally you would want to follow up on
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your shot and pressure them at the net
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however Cho switched his feet in a
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gamble to anticipate his forehand corner
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off Cho also times this hip switch like
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a regular split step just with the added
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movement it is not only in the middle of
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the rallies where he is actively
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anticipating his forehand side but also
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off the serve notice how Cho serves to
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nara's backhand and anticipates the flat
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push however it's not only his back
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court that he was ready before we also
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need to take a look at how Cho was
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setting himself up in the front
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Court when playing against a four corner
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rally style you need to find an
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opportunity to change the pace if Cho
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keeps playing at nara's PACE he
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definitely will lose as we said earlier
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in this video this is nara's strength he
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can play like this forever
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that is why Cho looks for opportunities
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to change the pace the reason he's able
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to do this is because of his intuition
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and understanding of both the sport and
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opponent just won't let go he's a dog
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bone just got to keep that intensity
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going here the straight is likely the
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higher percentage shot most players opt
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to play the straight and focus on the
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shot quality even if their opponent is
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anticipating the shot there is not much
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they can do if the shot quality is near
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perfect a second way to change the pace
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against a four corner style is to play
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with faster shot speed when you play a
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shot with faster shot speed the return
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from your opponent will 90% be further
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into your court hence making the court
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feel smaller this is because it is much
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harder to control a faster
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shot even though Cho is 34 years old we
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still believe he is one of the fittest
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athletes on the tour although we don't
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know him personally his play and body
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structure make it evident that he was
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very very diligent and disciplined in
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his physical training however credit can
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also be given to his physiotherapist
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Victoria cow the reason why we need to
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mention physicality is because Cho can
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do stuff like this a lot of times he is
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able to catch Nara off guard because Cho
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is physically strong his ability to
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anticipate and cover shots is much
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better this is because he has the
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strength to cut off the shuttle but also
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recover done well he has as athletes
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start to approach the age of 30 and
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Beyond you will often see more
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controlled gameplay and calculated
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movements due to a deteriorating body
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condition however this 34-year-old
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shutler from Chinese taipe chotian Chen
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just seems to keep getting fitter and
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better into his first super 750 final if
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you like this video remember to hit the
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like And subscribe button and as always
