Professional badminton players' level decimated by COVID 19?

Discussion in 'Professional Players' started by Nine Tailed Fox, Mar 17, 2021.

  1. Nine Tailed Fox

    Nine Tailed Fox Regular Member

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    I just tuned into the second set of Momota vs Kashyap and Momota's footwork looks so lethargic. He is known for the multiple short steps he takes while recovering from the corners and there is no such illustration on the TV screen.

    Yesterday, I was watching a match highlight video of Kidambi and he was playing WS game of punch clear, half hearted drives, clear, drop and so on..


    Badminton more than any other sport is dependent on a player's footwork and these pros look slow, unready, indecisive, almost a completely different species.

    MD is so error prone that it's no longer fun to watch.

    Anyone else sharing the same opinion?
     
  2. Justin L

    Justin L Regular Member

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    Simply, the prolonged lack of tournaments or intense competition (the occasional domestic competition with familiar opponents or fellow team members don't count as much) has led to a considerable extent of ennui and demotivation or loss incentives (losing money and/or accolades) which will, in turn, certainly result in deleterious effects on the players' performance, form, touch or competitive edge in varying degrees.

    But, as the long layoff wasn't due to injury, I'd say it's more a matter of the mind, mental attitude, and different personalities would react , adapt and adjust to it differently. Even so, it's vitally important that these professional athletes return to competition, especially, high-level , top-notch tournaments as soon as possible, the more so if they aim to peak at the right time for a shot at achieving an all-important, career-defining goal, such as the world title or, particularly, the Olympics.

    Personally, I wouldn't be too worried or quick to judge the players current condition, form or even performance during this long, unusual, even abnormal, period of global pandemic where tournaments are few and far between, if any. It's my belief that once things more or less return to normalcy - no doubt to a 'new normal', not the 'old normal', which is impossible - when BWF tournaments are regularly held according to schedule, it's a matter of time probably the great majority, if not all, players should sort of return to their former state and resume where they left off. Of course, there would undoubtedly be exceptions, a few may never recover and fade away while a couple might emerge stronger than ever, but exceptions do not make the rule.

    In other words, I'd expect any adverse impact on the players, generally, to be temporary and , mostly likely, reversible when the time comes; that is, provided the global pandemic is basically contained which is predicated on the worldwide vaccination program being successfully carried out and achieving its desired outcome, hopefully.
     
  3. backhand_slice_drop

    backhand_slice_drop Regular Member

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    The quality in the Olympics was also subpar barring that XD finals, so yeah it has.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  4. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    I would worry about long covid if a player had a previous infection. Covid affects people so differently. A normal person might not get affected too much by Covid but athletes are pushing their bodies to heights of performances so a change in the body that is not normally noticeable would show up in an athlete.
     
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