Thank you [MENTION=39250]gundamzaku[/MENTION] and [MENTION=3536]taneepak[/MENTION]. Just to let you guys know, what make me interested in this shuttle drift thing is LD's clear in the 3rd game, point 8-10 to LD. LD hit a cross court clear that seems to going out. Even LCW did think that the shuttle will go out. But at the last moment, the shuttle just fall right on the line. In the slow motion replay i think i see the shuttle just stopped in the air on it's way before finally falling down. That made me think it was caused by the wind. Do you guys have any opinion on this shot?
Can you describe the flight direction of the cross court clear as well as the way the shuttle landed in? Precession from clears will only drift from the left to the right as seen from the hitter. So the inwards drift involves only the sideline, not the backline. Drift involving the backline is almost always due to the hall aircon draft.
Viewing from the top (or ceiling), the shuttle travels in a straight line, doesn't it? (assuming no Air Con; no drift)...
It depends on the type of shot. If it is a smash or a drive, then yes it will travel in a straight line. However, if it is a clear then the shuttle will drift from left to right, with the drift starting after the shuttle turns over (point at which the shuttle head starts to point down from the up position).
I would say... undeniably a Legend, Grandmaster, Champion and truly the Great One in badminton. Doubt we will see another one like him in the near future, possibly forever. I am just glad that I am fortunate enough to be a witness to his skills.
Yes, it was the 1st half of the 3rd game, LCW facing camera and LD on the near end of the court. You guys noticed that shot too? What is your opinion then? So, LD was in the near half of the court while LCW in the top half of the court. LD hit the shuttle from the bottom right corner of the court/screen cross court towards the upper left corner of the court/screen. In the 1st glimpse i thought that shot will go out, but the shuttle finally landed right on the left back sideline of LCW's court. Even the commentators were surprised too when knowing that shot landed in. Then in the slow motion replay showed the shuttle a little "bended" from it's supposed direction. That make me wonder what caused that to be happened.
I am thinking whether it could simply be the angle of the camera? Maybe it is just me, but the shuttle seemed to travel straight in the slow motion replay from another angle! Whether it was drift, it also happened in a rally earlier, which ended with LCW leading 6-2 in game 3. During the peak of LD's shot, I could have sworn the shuttle would be out for at least 6-8 inch, but when it landed, it was just out by about 1 inch!
In other words, LD hit a cross court backhand clear. Any clear will at the turnover point (when shuttle starts to descend) gyrate which will then drift the shuttle from left to right as seen from LD's side as it comes down. In this case it drifts in. Pls note the very opposite will apply if the same backhand clear is hit by a right-handed player. However, if LD had hit a clear to the opponent's backhand side, then the shuttle may easily drift out, from left to right. All the above assumes there is no cross drift from the hall caused by aircon or other causes.
To make things simple pls remember all clears will reach a peak point and then starts to descend. All feather shuttlecocks have the feathers overlapped one way only. It is this industry overlap standard that causes the precession effect at turnover (peak) point making the shuttle gyrate and then bend from from left to right as it starts its descend. This bending or drift starts only during shuttle descend, not before. If the feather overlap pattern were to be reversed then the drift from gyration will move in the opposite direction. The current industry feather overlap pattern will always make the shuttle spin counterclockwise on its axis as it moves away. You can test this out by throwing a shuttle as far as you can and observe the counterclockwise spin. Of course very hard clear hitters can make the shuttle spin counterclockwise so fast you cannot see it.
