“You must make the shuttle listen to you,” Zhao Jianhua says, as he offers a few distilled potions of a lifetime’s knowledge to 52 players and coaches at a BWF training clinic on the sidelines of the BWF World Junior Championships 2024.
Three decades have passed since the world saw Zhao in full flight, but his legend hasn’t dimmed among those who had the privilege of seeing him in action. The lanky left-hander had been a vision of explosiveness and outrageous skill, a maverick in the all-conquering Chinese team of the 1980s. There wasn’t much that eluded him in a surprisingly brief career that lasted some seven years – the All England (1985, 1990), World Championships (1991), World Cup (1987), Asian Games singles gold (1986, 1990) and Asian Championships (1985) are testament to his winning ability on the big stage.
Zhao Jianhua at the coaching clinic
Long removed from those days, there he was, in Nanchang in October, having agreed to share his expertise over a two-day clinic for the players and coaches of 12 teams competing at the World Juniors. He is no longer gaunt as he used to be – his 6-foot frame has filled out. But there is something that marks him out as he walks around surveying the scene. It’s the swagger – perhaps the same body language that was to become the hallmark of a later-day champion, Lin Dan. That should not be surprising, for Zhao and his compatriot Yang Yang were the idols of every aspiring left-hander who came up in the 1990s and 2000s.
“I do see a bit of myself in Lin Dan in terms of his aggressiveness on court,” he agreed, “Lin Dan is Lin Dan, he has his own aura, but definitely I do see myself in him.”
Zhao oversees some drills on the basics – clears, smashes, netplay – and as he demonstrates those shots, there are some gasps among the participants. His wrist still carries sting.
“There are technical and physical aspects which combine to make you a top level player,” Zhao addresses the players. “Sometimes it can get boring, but if you have passion for this career, you need to accept this and give more than 100 per cent in your daily training.
“I want to highlight that for every stroke there’s an objective, there’s a reason to be executing a stroke.”
Someone wanted to know: How do you make the shuttle listen to you?
“It’s a lot of routine training. Even when there’s drift you can still make shuttle listen to you but you have to adjust. In normal conditions, you can make the shuttle do what you want, but in difficult conditions you can adjust, that’s what it takes to be a top player.”
He casts his mind back to his first big title, the 1985 All England when he beat Morten Frost in the final.
“That was the most memorable one. It was my first big international title, so a lot of emotions, it brings a lot of memories.”
In the years since that first triumph he was to duel with many great adversaries, but he doesn’t single out the most difficult one he’d encountered. “My toughest opponent was myself. The second toughest was also myself. If you play what you are capable of, you can beat anyone.”
Zhao Jianhua with participants of the BWF clinic
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