Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Monash researchers help improve Malaysian badminton performance

Malaysian badminton is set to be taken to the next level thanks to a tool for improving players’ performance and avoiding injury jointly developed by Monash engineering researchers with the Malaysian National Sports Institute.

The Malaysian badminton team is now using the system at all international games, and the Institute has also hired Monash Mechatronics Engineering graduate, Mr. Kokum Gayanath Weeratunga, as a full time staff to optimise and develop its use.

Mr Weeratunga was part of the team comprising Monash academic staff Dr Arosha Senanayake and Mr Khoo Boon How and Dr. Barry D. Wilson from the Institute's Centre for Biomechanics, that developed the software-based analytical tool they've quite simply named the Badminton Tracking System (BaTS).

"Aside from allowing coaches to analyse the playing styles of their players and competition, it can also be useful in identifying moves by players that could potentially cause injuries," says Dr Senanayake.

"Another advantage is that coaches are able to get an immediate analysis (soft real time analysis) of the match."

"There are currently other options available, but these require someone to manually input the parameters needed to analyse the player's performance.

"This kind of analysis would also allow the player/coach to detect flaws that need to be improved on the player as well as the weaknesses of the opponent."

Dr Arosha says the system is easy to set up, requiring only a 2.33 megapixel camcorder and a computer to analyse the video data gathered.

"The position of the player in a recorded clip is obtained by means of image processing to gather the stepping pattern and other motion parameters.

Dr Senanayake says video analysis is a technology used extensively in sports, where the captured video of a player is observed and analyzed by individuals to understand and improve a player’s motion on the track, field or court. Massive amount of research has been done in the field of analyzing audio and video footage of sporting events.

As such, he says there are a number of commercial software available for this purpose, but these require other analysis tools and are expensive.

"Our aim was to develop a software tool for performance analysis specifically to serve the sport of badminton. By analysing this information provided by the software, the coach and the player can obtain immediate feedback after a training session or a match."

"The coach can analyse the stepping pattern of the player, the position on the court - which will indicate whether the player is able to take a particular shot or the best place to be positioned to play effectively. These frame intervals can then be played back and observed to identify weaknesses in friendly players and opponents."

Through analysis of the data, Dr Senanayake says the coach can also identify if the player is playing according to his or her normal style of play, or is being influenced by the opponent's style of play.

So far, says Dr Senanayake, the software has been very useful in providing quick analysis of games by the Malaysian badminton team.

Nota:
Dato'Lee Chong Wei dan regu lelaki dah menang Swiss Open.

Agaknya bila lagi KBS ni nak belanja duit yang besar untuk pembangunan Belia agar setanding dengan belia2 luar negara yang memacu perubahan dalam pelbagai bidang. Kenapa tidak dibelanjakan wang untuk peningkatan latihan dan pembangunan belia. Bukankah masa depan negara letaknya di tangan belia hari ini?

Memang sukan dapat menaikkan nma negara, namun untuk kepimpinan negara masa depan, cukupkah dengan adanya olahragawan dan olahragawati yang cemerlang? Bagaimana dengan kumpulan pemikir? Ahli perniagaan dan pakar ekonomi? Kenapa kedekut sangat nak belanja untuk membangunkan kelompok ini?

Hari ini, rata2 di universiti, mahasiswa dah banyak kena cekup dengan pembangkang...apa tindakan proaktif KBS untuk menjaga kelompok ini?

3 comments:

  1. agak2 nyo la jang...berapo la kerajaan kito ni belanjo duit bayar mat saleh tu. Apo dah takdo orang sini ko nak tolong buek software ni. Apo guno la dok buek MMU dan segalo tu kalo tak bulih produce engineer yg hebat...

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  2. KBS ni sejak dulu lebih mementingkan sukan berbanding pembangunan belia. Sebab tu belia habis beralih menyokong pembangkang. Sikap tdk mengambil berat dan mengambil mudah terhadap aspirasi dan keperluan belia bakal menjadi kudis kpd kerajaan. Mereka lupa gol muda itu adalah cermin kepada kehebatan sesebuah bangsa. Lihat sajalah perbezaan taraf serta pemikiran antara gol muda Melayu dan Cina.

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  3. Justeru, sebagai tanda rasa kasih dan berkongsi simpati pada mereka yang nasibnya memerlukan pembelaan, Kementerian Belia dan Sukan mengambil inisiatif menganjurkan Konsert Menjunjung Damai - Belia Malaysia Cintakan Kemanan.

    Di samping melestarikan warisan seni, acara ini juga menggalakkan perkembangan sahsiah para anak muda ke arah menjadi warganegara yang lebih bertanggungjawab, mempunyai ketahanan diri, daya saing, daya tahan, daya juang dan berwawasan yang asasnya adalah melalui melodi muzik dan seni.

    Menurut Menteri Belia dan Sukan, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, acara ini bukan sekadar satu acara, sebaliknya dengan manifestasi yang cukup bersemangat-memupuk rasa kasih sayang golongan muda untuk cinta kasih kepada negara yang telah menghadiahkan sejuta keamanan kepada mereka.

    "ini petikan yang gua jumpa kat utusan...inilah dia mentaliti Kerajaan...nak bangunkan anak muda buat konsert...kepala hotak dia membangun!!!"

    -putera-

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