1982 Badminton Thomas Cup Final Classic -Luan Jin vs Rudy Hartono Game 2

This game offers a very good lesson in singles tactics.
Hartono in the 2nd set had to deal with a very hard hitting Luan Jin and was playing against the wind.Being a doubles player good in playing drives he managed to keep the shuttle going downwards and out of reach of Luan Jin to prevent LJ from smashing .Hartono could clear quite comfortably against the draught and his net dribbles were kept close to the net aided by the wind.LJ was reluctant to lift as he could not find the correct length just like Rudy in the first set previously.
Hartono may not have been as powerful and fast as his opponents but he was a master tactician. The same tactic was also used by Chen Long in the recent 2017 China Open against Viktor.We did not have the privilege in the past of good technical commentary by coaches on TV like we have today.Players used to drag the game over 3 sets to conserve energy for the final set,but nowadays they tend to give up when they play on the side where they have the draught behind their backs and play well on the "better" side.