Gloucestershire Badminton Association

Kenn plays a backhand clear

Chris Hotchen, current holder of the Gloucestershire Restricted mens singles cup, played a superb match against top Malaysian player Lim Kenn who is touring the UK currently before hoping to carry on round the world.

In front of a good crowd of Glos+Stars players, coaches and spectators, Chris Hotchen put up an excellent fight against the amazing power and speed of Lim Kenn. In Kuala Lumpur, Lim and his partner Law Yew Thien recently got through to the main draw of the mens singles event of the Malaysian Open badminton championships. Based on current form and the results of the recent Selangor Under-21 tournament, the State's top two players are Azri Hanif Azhar and Lim Kenn although it is looking less likely that Kenn will be representing Malaysia at the 2012 Olympics but has been a possible contender.

Both Hotchen and Kenn are left handed players so on the face of it were well matched opponents. Hotchen played very consistently and to the best of his ability showing all his deftness and deception.

Perhaps because of the need for left handers to gain a decent response to clears to the backhand corner, Lim Kenn has developed such good footwork that he could sometimes make a winning round-the-head smash from this difficult position, instead of playing the usual backhand reply.

Here we see Hotchen has pressed Kenn so hard into the corner Kenn has had to resort to a backhand clear.
In the end, however, Kenn's greater experience paid off and he was able to gradually manoevre his opponent into slightly weaker positions, more often than not, to create an opening for the eventual winning shot.

The Malaysians are renowned for their jump smashes and there were plenty of those to provide a spectacle for the young Glos+Stars to enjoy at close quarters.

Although both games were won by Kenn (21:10 and 21:9) many good shots were played by Hotchen which earned the applause of the audience.

To see Badminton England's report of Kenn's recent success click here.

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Source of information for all Gloucestershire Badminton enthusiasts