Backhand deception is the new back-stab in badminton | Badminton News

English badminton player Sean Vendy — all tattoos and aggressive hitting, had been trying to match Taiwanese Lee-Yang on speed at the Round of 16 of the All England a fortnight ago. His partner Ben Lane, a leftie, is a more skilled and creative player capable of mic drop-moments when playing from the front court. But Vendy, who offers the hustling muscle to the combination, stepped it up this time. He went charging at the net and got both Lee and Yang (who eventually won 23-21, 23-21) who were on the right side of the court, taking steps to the left, almost as if synchronized, anticipating his intention to play the cross backhand flick.Instead, he had them both fooled, sending it down-the-line in a cheeky feint.
The blazing backhand cross had just gone gloriously rogue. The deception was dazzling not just in Vendy’s execution in going straight instead, but in how both Lee and Yang, standing front and back, moved the other way confident that the Englishman would go cross. Act 3 of this trickery erupted in that split second realisation both opponents over what had happened, as they reflexively tried to lean right and reach for the shuttle that went chuckling past them. The right shoulders shrugged a tad more as they were eluded.
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It was a standalone moment of glee against the run of play, and made the BWF’s weekly compilation of best backhands from Birmingham.
Vendy’s moment of magic would find company in variants of the same idea this March, from All England to Swiss Open. Kittinupong Kedren, the men’s doubles shuttler from Thailand and Danish women’s singles player Line Kjaersfeldt, would execute their versions of the backhand down-the-line to perfection at Basel. Indonesian men’s singles player Chico Wardoyo might’ve played the lamest of backhand lifts straight ahead in his opener at All England. But he had poised to make it seem as if he was sending it to the far corner, and misled his opponent for another clever backhand straight winner.
This deception is not your seasoned jaw-dropping sorcery of Tai Tzu-ying, just simple last-moment non-flourish of the wr, to send opponents out of position and make them look a little silly. This is the smallest checking of the wrs where the backhand (always expected to go cross) acts as decoy. That instant when it dawns upon opponents that they have been tricked, and they try to salvage in vain, just adds to the merriment of the moment.
The beauty of badminton’s original backhand cross smash — easily the game’s most beautiful stroke, is the regal power, the whipping speed, the lightning trajectory of it all. Taufik Hidayat made it so beautiful that in his last few seasons on the circuit, you could enjoy the Taufik backhand and not quite worry about if he won or lost. The stroke was the spectacle.Story continues below this ad
Lee Zii Jia, Viktor Axelsen and Liang Weikeng among the current men’s shuttlers and An Se-young in women, have a special backhand smash, with the Korean all-conqueror even contending for the best backhand with a no-look 360-twirl stormy smash in the winning last week.

Incredible no-look backhand.
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But increasingly, the check-shot where wrs are cocked, the fore-arm unleashes unreal pause-control and the natural flicking action is stopped in its ranks to switch the arc into a straight line, matching the backhand smash in efficacy to win points.
The radius and ulna bones of the arm hold rock steady and the carpal bones with gritty names like trapezoid, trapezium, capitate, scaphoid, and the even more formidable, lunate, triquetrum, hamate, pisiform and the ancient Greek-sounding Hamulus of hamate along the ulnocarpal joint do their bit to freeze and not go through with the flicky swerve. It’s just a lot of skeletal parts acting stoic, to add nuance to the natural placement of the backhand.
Of course none of it is visible to the eye, though pros spend years perfecting this deception. But there is immense fun to be had in watching replays for how the opponents get befuddled.
Prannoy’s backhand deception
You could even say India’s backhand beast HS Prannoy won his World Championship bronze, beating Viktor Axelsen no less, with the help of this backhand deception — a video worth watching on loop for the look on the face of coach Guru Saidutt.Story continues below this ad
Badminton, like most other sports, witnesses the tyranny of power. That unretrievable smash that is buried into the floor, smothered often, is such a furious full-stop to a rally that applause is inevitable. But the softer shots from a backhand repertoire, that do not shoot past and are simply cleverly executed as surprise, choosing the moment, can mess with opponent heads more than power.
The down-the-lines (very difficult to execute) can confuse rival radars, and trigger fear of being wrong-footed openly, and can force Plan Bs, even if it’s just that one time you play the deceptive backhand. It’s largely placement, not power, but also an artful diversion that brings a wry smile to everyone. There’s no pumping of fs from the con art, just a goofy grin for a point he well pulled-off, a skirmish cleverly won.