Zhao Jianhua Will Play Again

Discussion in 'General Forum' started by Oldhand, Mar 31, 2009.

  1. Oldhand

    Oldhand Moderator

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    A Legend Returns To Battle
    ------------------------------

    By Haldon D Kestris, AFP
    Published: April 1, 2009


    Canberra, Australia - On the day he turns 44, a living Chinese legend will re-enter the competitive arena. Zhao Jianhua, one of the world's greatest badminton singles players, is set for an age-defying comeback, 17 years after retiring from the professional circuit.

    Born on April 21, 1965 in China's Jiangsu province, Zhao was interned in a local sports school when 12. In just four years, he rose through the intensely-competitive ranks to win his first tournament - the prestigious Jiangsu City Championship. Spotted by a touring selector, the young Zhao was immediately elevated to the national sports development cluster.

    In 1984, China launched the 19-year-old six-foot left-hander on an international career that would finally land him high within the grouped sobriquet 'Four Heavenly Kings'. On his way to sporting glory, Zhao won the World Championships, the All England Open twice and the Asian Games gold twice besides the World Cup, the Malaysia Open, the Japan Open and the Singapore Open.

    However, the returning Zhao will not be playing for China, which has a surplus of young talent to fill its competitive ranks. Instead, he will represent Singapore, which has institutionalised the acquisition of foreign talent to don its sporting colours. Zhao will formally join the city state's badminton team on his 44th birthday.

    "Singapore has been a second home to me," says Zhao, cheerfully battling an inclined treadmill. "I played there, won there, fell ill there, got treated there, coached there, ran a food business there, lost money there and also studied management there."

    In 2006, the Singapore Badminton Association approached Zhao with what he then thought was a crazy proposition.

    "When they said they wanted me to join the team, I imagined it was something like what I had done earlier," recalls Zhao, who once served as an advisor to the Singapore national team. "When they said they want me to play for Singapore, I was shocked. I also thought it was crazy that Singapore couldn't get a young singles player from somewhere. But then, I did not know anything about their recall project."

    More than 6,000 kilometres away, at the Australian Institute of Sport in Bruce, a Canberra suburb, a team of sports scientists led by the AIS Director Prof Peter Fricker was waiting for the badminton legend. The AIS Dept of Biomechanics & Performance Analysis had been contracted by the Singapore Badminton Association to develop an experimental programme - the first of its kind in the world.

    "We named it Total Recall," chuckles Fricker. "It was the first project we took on. When Zhao arrived, he couldn't believe what we wanted to achieve."

    Over the next two years, Fricker's team worked on the Talbot Dueller, a super-computing simulator named after Don Talbot, the first director of the AIS. Using the Talbot Dueller, the team created a simulated version of Zhao Jianhua, the player as he was in his prime.

    "Our simulated Zhao is named Zhao85 as it is modelled on the Zhao of 1985," says Dr Raymond Tan, the SBA's project leader. "That year, within the space of just three months, he beat the world's top four players - Morten Frost, Yang Yang, Han Jian and Liem Swie King. Zhao was then simply unbeatable."

    Mapping Zhao's shot-skills, upper body torsion, arm extensions, footwork and court-craft to the game's modern environment was the next step - and it took the team nearly a year to complete it. Nearly 20,000 motion-analysis captures from video as well as the living Zhao were digitized and rendered on to a simulated Zhao85 equipped with a modern pair of shoes and a carbon-fibre racquet strung at 28 pounds.

    In May 2008, the Talbot Dueller was tasked with re-rendering the captures at decreased parameters. The motion values were 'slowed down' by an Age Constant representing the computed differences in the speed of movement and physical strength between the Zhao of 1985 and the Zhao of 2008. The super-computer required nearly two months of parallel processing to complete the calculations.

    "Luckily, the playing area, the playing surface, the weight of the shuttle and the height of the net have remained the same over the years," says Tan. "If not, this simulation would have been impossible or, at best, a fiendishly complex exercise."

    In early September 2008, just two week after the Beijing Olympics, Zhao85 was electronically pitted against the four top-ranked singles players of today. A panel of coaches was assembled to pick their choice of 'best performance' for the players. In most cases, the choices were unanimous.

    "For Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei, the panel chose his win against Lin Dan at the 2008 Thomas Cup," recalls Tan. "For China's Lin Dan, it was his Olympic final that they selected."

    So astonishing and unexpected were the results of the simulation that Fricker and Tan decided something had gone wrong. Although the logs turned up no errors, the team agreed that the calculations should be redone, and also that data on more opponents be added to the scenarios. This time, it took the Dueller three months to churn the mountains of electronic data before the matches could be simulated again.

    The results were as stunning as before.

    "We couldn't believe it at first," says a beaming Tan. "Zhao85 defeated all the top players of today, from Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan all the way down to the world's 40th ranked singles player. Since January this year, we have run over 600 simulations - and the only time Zhao85 lost is when he played Lee Hyun-Il. But that is no cause for worry as Hyun-Il is now retired."

    Fricker, a keen badminton player himself, defends the results as 'infallibly accurate' but admits that badminton experts might find it difficult to believe that these results could be mirrored in real life.

    "Until Zhao plays his first comeback match, people are going to be extremely sceptical. But," he adds, "their doubts will soon disappear. Our modelling scenarios have used a 43-year-old Zhao Jianhua playing with modern gear at a 43-year-old's pace with a 43-year-old's strength against the fastest, fittest and cleverest players of today. And except against that Korean player, Zhao has won every match we simulated."

    "Zhao will have to be very careful," adds Tan. "All he needs to do is play his 1985 game at the reduced speed and power he can manage today. If he does that, he will be unbeatable for at least a few years. But if he changes his strokes or his footwork or his shot-patterns, it will be a disaster."

    Later this week, the living Zhao will bid goodbye to the AIS campus and Fricker's team. In the weeks ahead, he will train with Singapore's best singles players before setting out in early May for the Tianhe Sports Center in Guangzhou, China to mark his comeback at the 2009 Sudirman Cup.

    "So far, my model has beaten Lin Dan, (Lee) Chong Wei and Taufik (Hidayat) nine times each," says a laughing Zhao. "Now it is time to see if the real Zhao too can do it."
     
  2. Pete LSD

    Pete LSD Regular Member

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    April Fool's Day?
     
    #2 Pete LSD, Mar 31, 2009
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  3. MSHSBadmPlayer

    MSHSBadmPlayer Regular Member

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    Singapore must be desperate! :eek:

    What for waste those money on someone who can only play for another 3-5 years instead of using those money to develop our youths/recruit coaches? Plus, Zhao isn't even reliable, considering his age. His glory is history, can't they tell?

    I've watched one of his coaching videos and he himself claimed that he is unable to jump as high and smash as hard as when he was at his prime due to his age and some injuries. So...? :confused::confused::confused:

    Another reason for taxpayers to complain. :(

    Edit: Anyway, it's still interesting to watch Zhao in action against modern top badminton players like LD, LCW and TH... :D I can't wait to watch those matches!
     
    #3 MSHSBadmPlayer, Mar 31, 2009
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2009
  4. jamesd20

    jamesd20 Moderator

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    Quite right, they should surely think to the future?:eek:

    Make sure someone uploads the video!
     
  5. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    WOW, OMG, this is the holy grail of meticulous analysis that us badminton fans were looking for to resolve our constant debate whether ZJH in his peak days could match up with today's top pros. If the simulation showed such high consistent forecast, backed by great history matching (TC and OG results), then this conjecture whether ZJH is as good as today's pro is no longer a conjecture.
     
  6. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    yeah. it was confirmed by my sources in SBA as well.

    if Lance Armstrong can come back at age of 37. 43 is not that far away.
     
  7. jamesd20

    jamesd20 Moderator

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    This needs to be used in Evidence as the "best player ever" thread.

    They should do it with a TXH video!!

    Incidentally it should also solve the "was Lin Dan trying or was LCW food poisoned" debate.......
     
  8. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    in order to attract local talents, u must stir interest. If ZJH showed determination at this old age to play for SG, then maybe it will encourage more young blood to join SG badminton, and also make current players to play better. It will be a marketing bonanza, if ZJH does make it beyond 1st round, stadium will be full where ever he goes to compete.
     
  9. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    no doubt LHI's strength is stamina over ZJH in the simulation, have anyone know if LHI had played against Taufik before??
     
  10. MSHSBadmPlayer

    MSHSBadmPlayer Regular Member

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    but how many young blood really knows ZJH? :D
     
  11. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    u mean THX???:D
    IMO, this news is big enough to has its own thread:D
     
  12. Surreal

    Surreal Regular Member

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    Okay .. publish date. xoxo
     
    #12 Surreal, Mar 31, 2009
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  13. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    if they play and be good in badminton, i think so.
    Well, for those at least who joined BF and read its thread:p
     
  14. ctjcad

    ctjcad Regular Member

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    Not agaaiiiinn.....

    ..ohhh nooo....Guys, when will you guys really learn that Oldhand is up to his "Old" tricks, once again????...:confused::confused::crying:
     
    #14 ctjcad, Mar 31, 2009
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  15. ctjcad

    ctjcad Regular Member

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    You guys....

    ...i think this is getting pretty "Old"...:crying:
     
    #15 ctjcad, Mar 31, 2009
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  16. Surreal

    Surreal Regular Member

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    I wonder if Zhao is joining ABC ..
     
  17. MSHSBadmPlayer

    MSHSBadmPlayer Regular Member

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    i thought the draw is out already?
     
  18. xiaoheng

    xiaoheng Regular Member

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    nice man lol:) ZJH represent SG.... never tot b4 lol.... hope to see him play soon...:D after so many yrs...
     
  19. Surreal

    Surreal Regular Member

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    Oh right .. shucks. Was really hoping to see him in action asap. T_T
     
  20. alexkho

    alexkho Regular Member

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    Published: April 1, 2009
    could it be an april fool joke?
     
    #20 alexkho, Mar 31, 2009
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