The end of Yonex Sunrise Gold Grand Prix 23-29th June 2009

Controversy surrounding the victory of China's mixed doubles pair Ma Jin/Zheng Bo.
Their fellow Chinese opponent conceited defeat, as the female player claimed ankle injury.

Sequence of events:
Before the game, players were introduced and cheered.

Score was 5-5. A medic ran up to talk to the injured player. Later the team China's medic came and examined the player.

There is some delay as the players keep their belongings and get ready to go on the podium.

Astonishingly, the 'injured' player casually walk up to claim the 2nd prize.Later Ma Jin went to claim the WD's title with a win over Malaysia's Wong/Chin.

Awesome game today. Play a total of 3.5 hours non-stop. Badminton bonanza.

Shuttlecocks didn't stand a chance. :)

Old Carbonex 21 review

Just a random review of a racquet I have with me since 2000.

Flex: Stiff
Balance: Headheavy
Composition (Frame): H.M. Graphite

(Shaft): H.M. Graphite,

Weight/Grip size: 3U (85.0-89.9g) / G4,5 2U (90.0-94.9g) / G3,4,5　

Technology: built-in-T joint
Review Date : 21st June 2008
Racket Type : Yonex Carbonex 21 SP

Specs : 2UG4
Strings: Yonex BG66 Tension: 25lbs ,1 Piece Stringing
Stringing Machine : Pacific Stringing machine
Technology : H.M. graphite

Grip: Cyber Plus Beta plus Wilson Pro overgrip
Shuttle Used: RSL Tourney

First Impression: A classic oval Yonex racquet. Solid dark color, a mixture of metallic dark slate gray and gold strips, with the metallic dark slate gray being the dominant color. The racquet is headheavy at about 290+/-5mm. The racquet has high swing speed, owing to slim shaft. This racquet feels solid and well constructed. It lack the control support cap of the later models of Yonex, which was why it's common for players to wrap overgrip all the way to the cone for better control.

Warm Ups: The swing of this racquet is extremely fast as it was one of the 1st Yonex racquet with a super slim shaft. It is fantastic when clearing and smashing as the racquet cuts through the air efficiently. The clears are easy to excecute and smashing is fun with this racquet. When hit in the sweetspot, the smash is fear inducing and loud (thin strings). The control is good at the net. Driving is a bit challenging with this racquet, that is why it's less used in doubles unless you have very high skill.

Game Time: Serving is good with this racquet, especially forehand long serve. Flick serves and receiving service near the net is a bit tricky unless you hold the racquet at the cone. Driving with backhand and forehand are a bit challenging. The clear is also good, but need to control your strength. The smash is good enough . What can I say for defense, it's sluggish but need good racquet skills to be effective. Netkills are easy too with this weapon. Drops and sliced drops are accurate with this racquet, thus, the feel is good too with this racquet. The heaviness of this racquet maybe challenging to move around quickly.

Conclusion: A classic oval and basic racquet with HM graphite and around 20 years old. Moreover, this racquet is a proven commodity in international competition, wielded by former players like Park Joo Bong, Wang Chen and Wong Choong Hann.

Feel: 8/10

Control: 7.5/10
Power: 9/10
Defense: 5.5/10
Maneuverability: 7.5/10
Pros: Excellent singles racquet and has hard hitting power.
Cons: Unforgiving racquet and has small sweetspot
Suitability: Intermediate/Advance/professional Singles player

YONEX/Sunrise sports recommendation for player type:
For advanced players looking for solid feeling
Yonex rating 1-5
Power 5
Control 5
Flex 4
(Ref: Yonex badminton chart)

Conclusion of Indonesian Open Super Series 2009

The outcome of this tournament was good for badminton.

We see a new champion emerging in Women's singles, India's Saina Nehwal.

The Men's singles winner is Lee Chong Wei.

The WD was won by Malaysia's Chin/Wong

The MD was won by Korea's Lee Yong Dae/Jung Jae-Sung

The MD was won by China's Zheng Bo/Ma Jin

Gosen Roots Aermet 6900 (Boonsak Model) Burgundy color (1st Gen)

Flex: Stiff-
Balance: Headheavy
Composition (Frame): H.M. Hot Melt Graphite, Aermet Mesh
(Shaft): H.M. Hot Melt Graphite
Weight/Grip size: 3U(85.0-88.0g) / G4, 5, 6
Technology: Aermet Mesh, Roots delta Joint, Vibeless grommet, Gavun (Two Kick point), Long shaft, Flat cap

Review Date : 14th June 2009
Racket Type : Gosen Roots Aermet 6900 Boonsak Model
Specs : 3UG5
Strings: Yonex BG66 Tension: 25lbs ,2 Piece Stringing
Stringing Machine : Pacific Stringing machine
Technology : Vibeless Grommet, Aermet Mesh, Gavun Two Kick Point, Roots Delta joint
Grip: Aerotec Yonex grip plus Toalson Pro overgrip
Shuttle Used: APACS tournament grade

First Impression: Beautiful color, a mixture of red, yellow and burgundy, adorned with gold lettering on the shaft and silver on the frame. The word 'Boonsak Model' are emblazzoned at the shaft and Boonsak's signature are inscribed on the 5 and 7 o'clock on the racquet frame. The racquet is headheavy at about 290+/-5mm. The racquet has high swing speed, owing to long slim shaft and rather squarish head. This racquet's handle is slightly shorter than most racquets. I found the balance of the racquet to be slightly above even balance and the racquet feels light for a 3U. The stiffness of the racquet feels rather medium than stiff.

Warm Ups: The swing of this racquet is easy as the headheaviness has its own momentum. It is fantastic when clearing and driving. The clears are easy to excecute and defending is fun with this racquet. The control is good at the net. The smash is good, deceptively powerful, enough to finish off rallies. This racquet is easy to get used to.

Game Time: Serving is good with this racquet, as the short handle grip on the flat cap allows good flick serves and receiving service near the net. Driving with backhand and forehand are superb. The clear is also good, but need to control your strength. The smash is excellent. For defense, it's one of the best due to its weight. Netkills are easy too with this weapon. Drops and sliced drops are average with this racquet, thus, the feel is average too with this racquet. The lack of feeling is chiefly cause by too much vibration dampening by the 'vibeless grommet' which is a trade off between feeling and comfort. But otherwise is still excellent. Manuverability is excellent due to its lightweight.

Conclusion: This is Gosen's professional racquet. This racquet is an attacking racquet by nature, best used by offensive players as the smash is above average and driving is excellent. Moreover, this racquet is a proven commodity in international competition, wielded by Thai siblings, Boonsak and Salakjiit Ponsana.

Feel: 7/10
Control: 8.5/10
Power: 9/10
Defense: 8.5/10
Maneuverability: 9/10

Pros: Excellent light attacking racquet, one of the better balance racquet and no vibration.
Cons: No vibration doesn't mean it's all good, feeling of strings bouncing is important for drops.
Suitability: Intermediate/Advance/professional Doubles and Singles player

APACS badminton

I notice that APACS badminton is very popular in Malaysia and Singapore.

This is becasue it targets enthusiastic badminton players who may not afford a high end major brand racquets or do not need a professional racquet for competition.

However, APACS has sponsored professional players like Tan Bin Shen and Gan Teik Chai of Malaysia.


I bought an APACS training racquet recently. It weighs 120g. There are 3 variants of the racquets: 160g, 140g and 120g. When I took out the grip, I noticed there are strips of lead sheets added for extra weight.

Conclusion of Singapore Open

It was a hectic day of Badminton fest in Singapore. I made regular trip to Kallang Singapore Indoor stadium to watch the full display of Badminton joust. The many upsets by unheralded players over more illustrious players highlighted why we humans enjoy watching sporting events so much, the triumphs and defeats. There is a saying in sports, anything can happen.

With regards to the sponsor Li-Ning, I think they did a good job considering this is their first major sponsorship of a major badminton tournament outside of their motherland.

Their slogan 'anything is possible' is kinda ambigous, which is a rephrase of Addidas, 'impossible is nothing'. But I feel, this is a young company, born in 1989.
Considering Li-Ning is a China company, their main market is China and foreign market second. The brochures of Li-Ning badminton has so much grammatical error that it looks comical given the amount of cash they charged their badminton racquets, shoes and apparels. This is understandable given, that it is Chinese own with Chinese mentality. What they did is a direct translation of the Mandarin sentences/phrases into English. This is not recommended as English has a more complex/precise grammar/syntax than (spoken) Chinese.

I think the did a great job selling Sun Zu's four elements of Woods, Rocks, Storm and Flame which played on Chinese elements and selling them to Western consumtion.

I'll say despite some distrust on its price and gimmicks, I think Li-Ning did ok, most importantly there's no major hiccup and things move smoothly. Besides, the wining of Bao Chun Lai, Mixed Doubles pair and Women's doubles cemented their reputation as sponsors of winners.

Aviva Singapore Open 2009

Xie XingFang warming up. In this match, she played Salakjit Ponsana of Thailand with the Yellow Gosen racquet.

Attended the Singapore Open Quaterfinals.

Managed to obtain Markis Kido's sginature on my AT900P.

But I found Li-Ning's price is too expensive.

A funny thing is that in order to get an autograph from the China badminton player, you need to buy SGD50 worth of Li-Ning's merchandise.
Talk about desperation given the economic climate.