New icon for Badminton Galaxy

This is the new icon that I designed for my blog Badminton Galaxy.

New Badminton Forum

I finally got time to start a new forum. Following is the link to the same: http://badminton.freeforums.org/index.php

Currently there are only two topics:
- General
- Badminton Topics

General category would cater to all non-technical items like introduction, discussion regarding diet etc.

Badminton Topics category would cater to all technical items like Footwork, backhand clear, low serve etc.

Feel free to drop me a mail/comment on how I can improve the forum (content, layout, colors etc.). I will be adding number of categories and forums as and when I get time. If you have any specific category or forum that needs to be added, please let me know.

Screenshot of forum is shown below:

Improving backhand

Backhand is one area that I struggle a lot. This is one of the best link that I found on the internet. Steps are explained in a 1-2-3-4 format which is really great and is helping me. Here is the link for all out there who are trying to improve their backhand.

Link to video on improving backhand

Ofcourse, practise, practise, practise and more practise is the only way to improved backhand. :)

Corporate Indoor Sports Fiesta - 2012

A friend of mine and myself participated in "Corporate Indoor Sports Fiesta - 2012 on 25th Feb 2012. It was Organized by Badminton Bangalore at Gopalan Sports Center, Whitefield. Anup Sridhar was the Chief Guest. Got to meet some fellow players from corporate area. I participated in doubles. We lost even though we won the first game. I think my partner (Venu Sai) and myself rushed a bit in the second and third game which resulted in us loosing the match.

Got a chance to take photograph with Anup Sridhar as well:

Pulav served during lunch break was extra spicy :). Overall it was fun. Roof is a bit low and the shuttle flies a bit fast in this arena. Was good to play on the green mat.

Tournament in progress after lunch break:

Coxel Aerolite shuttles

I use Coxel shuttle regularly at the moment since it is cost effective. The court where I play is not that high and this shuttle fits in for the court for the flight of the shuttle. Shuttle will hit the roof for a very high serve or a high clear at the court where I play. Picture of the shuttle barrel is shown below:

Shuttle quality varies from barrel to barrel and also within a barrel. Some of the shuttles are a bit fast. Found these shuttles to be slightly more lasting than some of the other brands in same price range. Will try using other brands post my thoughts on those brands as well. Pictures of Coxel shuttles are shown below:

Yonex Voltric 80

Yonex Voltric 80 is my favourite racket. It is a 4U. Currently I am having grey Nanogy 95 (shown in photograph) guts on it at 26 Lbs. This racket is very good for smashes. Durability of this guts is good.

Initially I had white BG 66 Ultimax gut at 28lbs on this racket, which did not last for more than 2 weeks. 28lbs was not comfortable for me since the retention was less.

Had couple of hard clashes while playing doubles and nothing happenned to the racket. Paint coating had gone off in couple of places because of the clash.

Once the currenty Nanogy 95 breaks, I will change the guts to BG 66 Ultimax at 25 lbs to get some more retention power.

Yonex SHB-SC5EX shoes

SHB-SC5EX is the Yonex shoes I bought after a lot of research on their 2011 catalogue. I wanted to buy White and Red SHB-92MX, but was not available.

Overall SHB-SC5EX is fine. It has 3 layer Power Cushion around heel as well as in front area. One problem I faced was that wearing a socks which has thick lower layer can lead to ankle twist since the shoe as such is high. I was able to get thin sports socks from Nike which is suitable when using this shoes.

With my earlier shoes (which was a Reebok), I used to feel pain in front portion of my feet while playing, with this Yonex shoes I don't feel that pain at all.