Some really cool badminton videos that I found on YouTube:

Some segments from Melbourne 2006 Semis. Much of the video is from the women's doubles match where the Chinese were just dominating, and the end looks like it might be men's doubles, but I am not quite sure. link

Match point for Mixed Doubles at some cup that I couldn't quite read from the screen. Wonderful rally. I think it is between China and Indonesia. link

Match point for All England between two Indonesian teams. I think it is mens doubles. link

All England, men's doubles, between two Korean teams. Last three points after a tie at 14-14 in the third game. During the last point, the team in white (lower half) managed to get in 13 consecutive smashes between the two players, only to miss a drop return with an out to lose the match. Amazing clip. link

The last video is just sick. Peter Gade is possibly one of the best players ever in men's singles. He is known for fast smashes and deceptive drop shots. The following video exemplifies the latter. link. He began by doing a superb corner drop (which looks like it would either just eat the line or end up out, but if you are playing against Gade, you would not bet on a close call like that) countering his opponent's drop shot. When the opponent drops it right back at him, he fakes a straight drop and executes a cross-court, which just completely dumbfounded his opponent. The most amazing part, of course, is his choice of execution of the fake. The normal straight-drop-cross-court change-up works best against an opponent dropping at you from the back court. The execution is by approaching the birdie with horizontal racquet with the face lined up against the flight path of the birdie--the same thing Gade started with. The normal change-up that is usually taught then follows through by overstepping the lunge and reaching the arm at the last moment so that the racquet moves further and lines up the handle with the flight path. Then the player drops his hand and at the same time bring the racquet face up (in a continuous motion where the racquet itself forms the hypotenuse of a right triangle with corner at where the birdie would be hit) so that the racquet hits the birdie exactly where the handle of the racquet used to be. It is an extremely difficult motion, mostly because the lightness of the racquet makes gauging the center of mass difficult when practicing. Gade took a shot that has higher difficulty in final execution (making the hit and not landing out), slightly easier overall execution, and is just as deceptive. The mechanical motion is easier because Gade's shot requires only wrist motion, something familiar to all badminton players. But the shot itself is harder to hit because for a cross-court drop shot, the higher the initial impact means a flatter path and a shot more difficult to return. To impact the birdie low increases the chances of the birdie getting caught on the net and would allow the opponent more of a chance to return the shot (especially if the opponent is starting from the neutral position in the center of the court). What worked toward Gade's favor is that he executed the shot when both players were prepared to play net. The opponent just dropped a net shot and so, as soon as Gade moved up to the net, he made the (incorrect) assumption that Gade would drop it right back. This meant that even if Gade's cross-court was a little deeper than normal, it would still be ungettable.