East Asia: Badminton and Ping Pong - but not Tennis. (finals, won)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
1) Badminton and Ping Pong are widely popular in East Asia. Kids started to play them when they were very young, sometimes 6 or 7 years old. But not tennis. Badminton is probably more popular in Asia than tennis/basket in the US
2) Badminton and Ping Pong are indoor sports where you require a relatively small court. On the other hand, tennis requires a large land. In East Asian cities, land is a lot more scarce. You can find tons of FREE public tennis court in North American cities, but there is almost none in East Asian cities. You have pay a hefty fee just to play, something many youngsters can't afford.
3) Tennis and Badminton actually have very different skills. In badminton, one primarily uses wrist to change direction or deceive opponents, while in tennis, the wrist is usually "frozen" and one uses the forearm mostly.
Asians don't excel in tennis in general not because they can't, but because there is no such tradition and an equally fantastic training system.
Actually one can ask the same question, how come Americans don't play good badminton? It is the same idea.
Also many Americans seem the hold the bias that badminton is some sort of a kids' game, or some backyard sport. It is not. If you try it, you will know it is highly difficult and strenuous and requires equally sophisticated skills as tennis. The court is smaller and the speed of the shuttlecock is very high.
"Badminton is the fastest racquet sport in the world with shuttles reaching speeds of up to 332 km/h (206 mph) (faster than the speed of the Eurostar train)." - it is much faster than either squash or tennis. And unlike tennis, the shuttlecock never touches the ground, which requires high level of agility and precision.
asian players are catching up in Tennis. In Mixed-doubles or Mens doubles, there are two players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi of India who have won dozens of Grand Slam tournaments. From China, we have some female players who are now routine feature in grand slam semifinals.
asian players are catching up in Tennis. In Mixed-doubles or Mens doubles, there are two players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi of India who have won dozens of Grand Slam tournaments. From China, we have some female players who are now routine feature in grand slam semifinals.
Why are east Asian nations so proficent at Badminton and Ping Pong but woefully under-represented in the higher ranks of tennis?
Shouldn't accomplishment in one "net" game carry over to another?
Any theories?
Because you're applying American sensibilities to different lands. Not everyone in the world feels the same way about tennis. They probably wonder why we're so p*ss-poor at ping pong.
I believe in order to make badminton more appealing to the youth of America it will require to change the name to something better. I suggest that we all adopt the name that we like to call it..."hit the birdie up on the roof"
I believe in order to make badminton more appealing to the youth of America it will require to change the name to something better. I suggest that we all adopt the name that we like to call it..."hit the birdie up on the roof"
I believe in order to make badminton more appealing to the youth of America it will require to change the name to something better. I suggest that we all adopt the name that we like to call it..."hit the birdie up on the roof"
LOL - I have done that enough!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Bad-Ming-Done.
