Eight Basic Badminton Techniques
If you want to improve your game, you should practice these 8 basic techniques. Even if you just play badminton for fun, you can always learn something new to better your performance.
1. Badminton Grip
The right grip is your basic foundation for badminton. For more power and accuracy, make sure you are holding the racket correctly. There are 2 main types of grips: forehand and backhand.
Use the forehand grip when your shots are in the front of your body, and you hold your hand on the handle as if you where shaking hands. Keep the racket face perpendicular to the floor.
When the shot is behind your body, you should use the backhand racket grip. Hold the handle just like you did for the forehand, but then turn the racket counter-clockwise so your thumb is to the left.
2. Badminton Footwork
Your opponent will try to keep the shuttle away from you, so be prepared to move around the court quickly and accurate with good footwork. You’ll need moves like skipping, shuffling, gliding, lunging and even bouncing. It’s up to you how to use them during your game. Always keep your knees slightly bent and ready to move at all times. Generally stay in the mid-court area so you can reach all corners of the court quickly. Read the rest of this entry »
Who Will Win the Cricket World Cup 2011
Guys, it is the time to pick favorites for the Cricket World Cup 2011. The countdown for the mega event has begun, and everyone, including the legends of cricket have started picking their favorites to win the World cup. According to the legends of the game India is favorite to win the World cup.
In my opinion India is not favorite to win this World cup, even though they are top contenders for the coveted trophy. One of the main reasons for India’s unlikely success is the fact they are playing in front of the home crowd. Such big events like World cup brings a lot of pressure on the players. The title of being favorites adds to already existing pressure of home crowd expectations. Indifferent form of their best one day batsman Yuvraj Singh could also harm India’s chances. Moreover their senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar will be desperate for winning this World cup in order to have at least one big trophy under his belt before he retires from cricket. You can see Sachin Tendulkar faltering or failing when approaching an important milestone. He has never featured in a World cup winning team despite featuring in five editions of the tournament. This is likely to be the last World cup for Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin Tendulkar is known to fail whenever there is pressure on him. Any shrewd captain should be able to exploit this weakness of Sachin Tendulkar. Another issue would be the spot to play Gautam Gambhir. Gautam Gambhir is better as an opener. He might not be effective in one day games in the middle order, and it could disrupt the whole batting order. There is no clear picture yet as to what combination India is likely to go. There is too much confusion with too many confusing choices. But if some of the players in the Indian batting line up hit purple patch, nothing could stop India from winning this edition of the World cup. Read the rest of this entry »