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Taufik Hidayat - Badminton's Mr Backhand

Taufik winning the 2004 Olympic Gold Medal

Source:http://www.badmintonfreak.com/taufik-hidayat-vs-shon-seung-mo-athens-2004-olympic/

Say the name Taufik Hidayat to any badminton fan, they will always be in awe. Despite the fact that he has retired, he is still revered as one of the most talented players alongside Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan and Peter Gade of this generation. He has won major titles such as World Championship, Asia Championships and Olympic Games.

Taufik's backhand is renowned in the badminton world

Source:http://crazybadminton.wordpress.com/author/crazybadminton/page/2/

Taufik is best known for his backhands. As most badminton fans and players would know, backhands shots are harder to execute and generally weaker than forehand strokes. Therefore people will generally aim at the backhand side in order to get a weak return. When playing against Taufik, players do not have that chance as he is able to execute backhands as well as his forehand. When opponents lift the shuttle, he is able to pack his smashes with loads of power be it the forehand or backhand side.

In my opinion, Taufik's crowning achievement will definitely be his gold medal at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. As most sports fan will know, Olympics is only held once every four years, hence the title would be most difficult to earn as a player will only have at most 3-4 attempts in his entire career. What made it more memorable for his fans was he made a comeback from 6-0 down to win the first set 15-8. After that he never looked back and won the match by winning the second set 15-7. Despite his drop of form in his final years before retirement, he will always be remembered by fans as one of the most talented and exciting players to ever have graced badminton. 

See Taufik at his best!
Taufik Hidayat - Mr.Backhand

Steve"The Blocker" Roach

Steve "The Blocker" Roach

Though born in Sydney, Roach played his early rugby league for Wests Illawarra and was signed by the Balmain Tigers in 1982. He quickly advanced to first grade and in 1983 was part of the Balmain side which made the semi-finals for the first time since 1977. Between then and 1992 Roach played 185 first grade games for the Tigers.

1987 was almost completely wiped out for Roach due to a serious knee injury and though he returned to excellent form in 1988 he was cited for a tackle on Penrith's Chris Mortimer suspended for four weeks, missing the 1988 finals including the Grand Final loss to Canterbury.

In the 1989 club season his combination with Paul Sironen, Benny Elias and Wayne Pearce was one of the strongest packs in club rugby league history and the side dominated opposing forwards. In the 1989 Grand Final, after having led Canberra 12 points to 2 at half-time, the Tigers were run down. Roach and Sironen were replaced by coach Warren Ryan late in the 2nd half and when the game ultimately went into extra time they were unable to return and with their strikepower gone in the added period Canberra were able to overpower Balmain 19-14.

In 1991 his club form showed some decline but he again managed national selection and his experience was vital to the improvement of a side needing reorganisation after they suffered a shocking start to the club season. After an ankle injury in 1991 he was also troubled by a knee injury in 1992 which would prove to be his last club season.
His tremendously solid and stocky build made him a bull-like runner up the middle. He possessed a pair of hands as large as anyone's in the game and had excellent offloading skills that frequently gave team-mates tries or long breaks.

Known for his aggressive approach and powerful running close to the rucks, Roach was arguably the number one prop in world rugby league at his peak. However he was also notorious for his controversial behaviour on-field, which may have made state and national selectors wary of him at times.
In a game in 1990 against Manly at Brookvale Oval he received a four-week suspension for back chatting the referee Eddie Ward, whom Roach then patted on the head after he was ordered from the field. Coming into physical contact with a referee is regarded as a serious offence and Roach was fortunate that no further action was taken. Roach did himself no favours in this incident when he gave the touch judge a verbal bashing on his way off the field.

Dato' Lee Chong Wei-Badminton's World Mr Consistent

Dato' Lee Chong Wei

Source:http://coverjunction.com/cover/Lee-Chong-wei-jump-smash

Dato' Lee Chong Wei the current no.1 badminton player in the world. He is one of the best players to ever grace the game of badminton. Badminton being one of the national sport, which most Malaysians play, Dato' Lee Chong Wei has attained the status of a national hero back in his home country. He earned Malaysia's first Olympic medal in the the 2008 summer Olympics since 1996. This achievement has earned him datukship in Malaysia (similar to MBE status in England). He also wont the prestegious All England Championship 3 times.

Dato' Lee Chong Wei with the All England trophy

Source: http://www.sportrichlist.com/badminton/lee-chong-wei-net-worth/

Dato' Lee Chong Wei has been famed for his incredible defensive ability. One of his trademark is the ability to retrieve 'winners'. Against most top players,  a well placed 'winner' would be sufficient to win the point. However, against Dato' Lee Chong Wei, due to his defensive ability to most shots back, opponents will start to think they have to make even better quality shots to win the point. They will start to make unforced errors in the process of attempting to make better quality shots. At the start of his career, Lee played very passively and defensively as he played to his strength. After 2009, he added more variations and attacking play to his style of play, making him even harder to beat. He also added a key component to his attacking play-ability to inject pace into his game. This ability has made him even harder to beat. He is also remarkably consistent over the past years, reaching semi-finals, finals in most tournaments. This has allowed him to stay number 1 in the badminton ranking for consecutive years. 

In my opinion, his crowning acheivement would be the times he got himself back up after suffering defeats at the hands of his arch nemesis, Lin Dan, the only player who could beat him on a consistent basis. However after every defeat, instead of retreating back, he has came back stronger to represent his beloved country in international competitions. He has always wore the Malaysian flag with pride and rarely let hia country down with his performances on the international stage. Lee Chong Wei BOLEH!!!

Peter Sterling

Peter Sterling

Peter Sterling compensated for a lack of size and pace with control and organisational skills that allowed Parramatta's all-star back line a great deal of ball. His kicking, backed up by Kenny and Ray Price's superb chasing, often gave Parramatta an advantage in territory. His fast mind meant that he rarely made a wrong decision. He was an effective defender rare to miss a tackle, and often in position to secure a loose ball.

He joined the Parramatta Eels in 1978 making his first appearance as a stand-in Fullback during the 1978 finals series, and played his first game as the Eels halfback in the 17-11 Minor-Semi replay loss to eventual premiers Manly-Warringah. After a few games at Five-eighth in 1979, Sterling shifted to halfback and established himself as a player to watch in 1980. 1981 saw the Jack Gibson coached Eels win their first Grand Final with a 20-11 win over the Tommy Raudonikis led Newtown Jets, with Sterling's superb skill and control one of the decisive factors.

Sterling played 229 games for Parramatta in a 15 year career from 1978-1992, scoring 48 tries, one goal, and 15 field goals for a total of 190 points. He played 18 tests for Australia, scoring 4 tries, as well as playing 13 games for NSW (winning 4 man of the match awards), one game for City Firsts, one for City Seconds, 3 for Country Firsts and two for County Origin.

Rafael Nadal

Image Source: http://www.tennis.co.uk/images/players/rafael-nadal.jpg

Rafael Nadal (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player that is currently ranked no. 2 in the world. Rafael is regarded as the best clay court player in history and has been nicknamed as "The King of Clay". His achievements in the tennis world include 14 Grand Slam singles titles, 2008 Gold medal in singles, a record 27 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and a record 15 ATP World Tour tournaments. Nadal is also regarded as one of the best personalities in tennis and also one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Much like Roger Federer, the Australian Open was the first time that I remember seeing Nadal play tennis for the first time and this was in 2007 because of a foot injury the previous year. Instantly there was obviously a rivalry between Nadal and Federer on the court and many tennis fans including myself have been entertained throughout the years of this continuing rivarly. There are many matches that I look forward to seeing include hopefully the return of Nadal this year when the Australian Open arrives.

Lin Dan-Badminton's Superstar

Lin Dan

Source: http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/badminton/n214556389.shtml

Lin Dan is the ultimate superstar in the world of badminton. He has been smashing records ever since he broke onto the world stage in 2001. He has already had success most badminton player could only dream of by becoming the first and up till now only person to have won all major tournaments a badminton player could have won: Thomas Cup, World Championship, All England Championship, Asian Games, Asian Championship, Super Series Final, Surdiman Cup and the Olympics.

His attacking skills has been famed since his rise, armed with devastating smashing power and excellent techniques at the net, he has been able to put his opponents on the back foot and play his attacking badminton. Do not however be mistaken that Lin Dan is just attack with no defense. In fact, his defense is equally as impressive as his attack. His biggest weapon however is not his smashing power nor his excellent techniques, it is his ability to suddenly inject pace into his game. This sudden aggressiveness enables him to catch out opponents to win him important points, matches and titles. 

For me, his crowning achievement would be winning his first Olympic title in Beijing in front of his home crowd, demolishing Lee Chong Wei 21-12, 21-8. He dominated his opponent throughout the entire match with relentless attacking; Lee had no response to the ferocious attacking display and had to settle for second best.  

Lin Dan winning at the Bejing Olympics

Source:http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90779/94835/6476220.html

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