EVER since it became possible to make accurate measurements, an argument has gone back and forth as to whether badminton or tennis is the fastest racquet sport – with proponents and fans of both games defending their champion all the way.
One of the claims that's been smashed around over the years is that badminton is in fact the fastest racquet sport ever.
Is there any truth to this?
VERDICT:
TRUE
In an experiment specifically designed to test the speed of a shuttlecock in badminton, Malaysian rising women's doubles player Pearly Tan managed to set a new world record for the fastest smash at 438km/h earlier this year.
The Guinness World Records also confirmed the record breaking smash, which was achieved with the help of a Nanoflare 1000 Z racket at the Yonex Tokyo Factory gymnasium on April 14.
This was measured using high-speed cameras, which captured the shuttlecock’s movement and calculated its speed based on the time and distance travelled.
With this said, the record was once held by former badminton doubles star Tan Boon Heong.
Tan – who bagged the All-England men's doubles title with Koo Kien Keat back in 2006 – clocked the highest recorded smash at a speed of 493km/h using the Yonex Nanoray Z-Speed in 2011.
His record lasted more than a decade and was only surpassed this year by Indian doubles player Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, whose smash was clocked at a speed of 565km/h.
According to Yonex, this smashing speed is faster than a Formula 1 car.
In comparison, the fastest serve by a male player in a competitive tennis tournament was by Australian player Sam Groth back in 2012, who clocked a serve at 263km/h.
References
https://badmintonweekly.com/
https://www.
