Badminton

Four Things to Consider When Buying a Badminton Racket 

When playing a game of Badminton, your racket can determine if you’ll win or lose. Here in India, the badminton racket has been described as the most important equipment during a badminton game. Your swerve, your shot speed and accuracy, are some of the things your racket will influence during a badminton game. More precisely, it will determine how much threat you pose to your opponent, and how much response you can give to his game. We advise that you read our guide before purchasing any of the badminton rackets online. We believe there are things you should consider when buying a badminton racket. 

Here are the most important four considerations you should make:

What Type of Player Are You

This is the first and the most important question you should ask yourself before purchasing a badminton racket. First, are you a professional? Are you buying it to play as an Indian professional badminton player? There are rackets made for professionals and those made for people who just want to have a feel of the game. These are two different circumstances. Second, you should know your abilities as per speed, accuracy, and swerve. Different rackets are made for different purposes. Some will increase your precision in one area, but wouldn’t be great in other areas. Some are made to be average. Are you an Offensive, Defensive or All Court Player? Offensive player-who moves quickly and often, plays fast and deep strokes. The defensive player who moves quickly and often plays slow, long but deep strokes. All court player- who moves quickly but make his opponent run all over the court.  When you know the answers to these questions, then you should go ahead with the next consideration. 

The Racket Weight is Important

If you are a beginner, or you are trying just playing for fun, we advise that purchase any of the lightweight rackets. These rackets are within the range of 85 to 90 grams. They are great for balance and are very easy to control. Whether you’re an Indian professional trying to catch fun at home, or a badminton fanatic, these kinds of rackets give you a quick stroke and easy recovery. You can outmatch your opponent with quick swerves and seamlessly switch to an entirely different stroke. If you want to excel in this game and like to start the game with training rackets within 100 to 140gm. The lightweight rackets on our website will help you avoid unnecessary pain or injuries around your wrists or shoulders. Racquet manufacturers like Yonex, Li-Ning uses 2U, 3U, 4U, 5U, 6U to indicate the weight of the racket. 6U-70-74.9, 5U- 75g-79.9g, 4U – 80-84.9g, 3U – 85-89.9g, 2U – 90-94.9g

Consider the Balance 

Badminton rackets can be classified based on balance. The balance of a badminton racket is the region where the racket weight is positioned. There are three rackets in this category. The Even rackets have even weight. The head-light rackets have their weight located around the racket handle. A head light racket will give you more maneuverability, but less power. The head-heavy rackets have their weight around the head. A head heavy racket will give you more power due to the momentum generated from the heavier racket head, but less maneuverability. These rackets are not for everyone. Each player having own preference. Any racket with a balance point of 285-290mm (length measured from the bottom of the racket handle, without any replacement grip being applied) is considered a balanced racket, while anything lesser than that is considered head light, and anything more is considered head heavy. Know what is good for you before buying a racket. Some good head heavy Rackets are Yonex Voltric 5, Voltric 7, Voltric 1DG, 7DG, 10DG, Duora 88, 50 Etune, Astrox 77, ZForce II and many more.

Check for the Strings 

While this might be impossible when purchasing a racket online, you can check for this when buying from a local store. You can test the racket tension by pressing the strings tightly against your palm. You should be able to notice how far your palm sinks into the strings. Few good websites show product descriptions like the string tension on the badminton racket. Although your racket string tension is your choice, we recommend 22-24 lbs for those who are just starting out. Lowering your tension will give you more power, more comfort and will open up the sweet spot of your racquet. Increasing your tension will give you more control and allow you to generate your own power more (instead of the racquet or string doing it for you). A common mistake most people make is to string at too high of a tension because of their ego.  Since it is harder to generate power at high tensions, the player will often use excessive force in order to generate power and may result in an injury to the shoulder or they may develop tennis elbow. It is recommended for beginners to use thicker strings like BG65 since thinner strings are easier to break from mis-hits like Aerosonic.

These 4 points will help you in selecting a correct racket.