It was a full-360 pirouette on the point that Chou Tien Chen won 7-4 early in the opening set, that would have made any elegant Kathak dancer, super proud.
In the middle of a longish rally against upcoming Indian Ayush Shetty, who is 15 years his juniors and has a decisive smash hit, the Taiwanese 35-year-old did what he does best, and got generous applause from the China Masters Super 750 crowd at Shenzhen, right up to his 21-19, 12-21, 21-16 win in his 68-minute Round 1.
Earlier, PV Sindhu gave neither Julie Jakobsen, nor the crowd any chance to process her win, as she wrapped it up in 27 minutes, one of her quickest, winning 21-5, 21-10 against the Dane. She plays Thailand’s Pompawee Chochuwong next.
But back to the Tien Chen – pirouette, of which he had two in this match on Tuesday, though the other didn’t fetch him the point. The beauty of the full pirouette in badminton as against in dance or ballet, is it extends beyond the full swirl. A successful one will be judged not solely for its grace, though Tien Chen is a master of balance (check his Insta workouts on tightropes). But the 360-rotation, will be gauged on how the shuttler regains his orientation in recovery, to play the next return, and then the next and if she or he can win the point.
The pirouette, if you start watching at 6-4 in Set 1, is mighty difficult to screenshot, and worthy of a smartphone-capability challenge, though Tien Chen literally went slow-mo slicing a shuttle on his way to blitzing his own frame in follow-up. He then had enough time to compose himself and play the next 4-5 strokes calmly and draw out an error.
A second one later in the third set, however, drew put the gasps, but two returns later, Tien Chen erred.
The Taiwanese isn’t too different from Tai Tzu Ying, though her sorcery was manifold. But both know how to win badminton points without excessive slam-banging of the racquet.
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Tien Chen gets tricky because he doesn’t have the most powerful get-outta-trouble-smash hits, though he can charge the net aggressively and finish to the backcourt with short pings. In fact, while Ayush led 13-10 in the second, it was his pure skill in rally construction that took the Taiwanese to 17-13, with 7 straight points, which deflated the Indian.
The Taiwanese created magic in defense, which is not the roiling, rumbling variety of those that dive this way and that, or pick impossible shuttles inches off the floor. He literally used his racquet face strategically to send precise drops at nets which got Ayush lunging perpetually. Lunging and missing next return, in recovery, as the Taiwanese scattered the shuttles. The pirouette too becomes a skill worthy of awe because it keeps the rally going, but can demotivate opponents when they watch literal wand like magic on the court, and can only sigh glumly.
While Ayush won the mid game 21-12, and also applied the acceleration in the first to reach 19, in the decider, he couldn’t stem the quality shot-making from the senior pro.
For Ayush Shetty, he will simply need to keep anticipating and not get surprised if Chou Tien Chen does his little magical things, like some superhero, minus special effects. (BWF/Badminton Photo)
If the pirouette gets the whistles and appreciative hoots, the trademark CTC shot to take home in memory is an inconspicuous mid-rally move of his. It’s a feather looping arching toss that you suspect is struck with the racquet frame, to take pace off it. It travels a neat parabola, earning him time, and denying opponent the angle or pace of a lift, to smash. All this he does with a ballet-like simple saute jump, to nick the shuttle and send it looping, taking its time to reach the opponent. It invariably falls shorter than expected, and Ayush was left stupefied and a little frustrated as these shots got going.
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For the Indian, he will simply need to keep anticipating and not get surprised if Chou Tien Chen does his little magical things, like some superhero, minus special effects. His bombastic attack is effective, but opponents in Top 15 all have these consistency hacks, some that look elegant.
Screenshot ting the pirouette? Good luck with that. It’s a blink and stay wide eyed move.
