Body Smash in Badminton: Why Pros Aim at the Player

Last checked: August 2026 · Written by the player-led team at Badminton House

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Why open space fails against a set defender

A defender who is balanced and already in position has room to make a full, chosen swing, so a hard smash into open space usually meets a clean, controlled block. Aiming at their body instead removes that room, cramping the stroke they can play and turning even a good touch into a loose reply.

Picture a standard singles exchange: your opponent lifts from the back court, recovers to a balanced base position, and stands with the racket held centrally. A full-power smash down either sideline gives them time to shape a clean forehand or backhand block and send it straight back with pace to spare. The same smash aimed at their racket-side hip instead forces a split-second choice between a cramped backhand poke and an awkward forehand reach across the body, and either way the reply loses pace and height.

Aiming at a person is also completely legal, and the laws of the game make it worthwhile rather than merely permitted. Under the BWF Laws of Badminton, it is a fault if, in play, the shuttle touches the person or dress of a player. That fault falls on the player who got hit, not on the player who hit the shuttle, so a smash that clips the defender's body wins the rally outright. Our separate guide to that rule covers the exact wording if you want the full picture.

The single most vulnerable spot named in coaching material on doubles attacking angles is the defender's racket-side hip. It sits at the exact point where a backhand defensive stroke starts to lose effectiveness while a forehand stroke there is still awkward to play, so whichever grip the defender is holding, that zone is the wrong one for them to be defending from.

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The named target zones

Four target zones cover most decisions a smasher actually faces: the racket-side hip, the central body or chest at close range, the middle of the court in doubles, and the gap between two defenders. Each one earns its place by forcing a specific, awkward reply rather than just being hard to reach.

Singles and doubles reward slightly different choices. Singles is largely a one-on-one puzzle of body versus space, so the hip and chest zones do most of the work. Doubles adds a second defender and a partner of your own at the net, so travel distance and angle matter as much as the target itself: a flat smash aimed at the torso is a recognised doubles option, and cross-court smashes and drops are generally avoided in doubles because the extra distance a cross-court shot travels gives both defenders more time to react. A loose reply that lands short or down the middle is exactly what your own net player is stationed to finish, either killing it outright or forcing another weak lift.

A concrete doubles example: your partner is up at the net, you're smashing from the right rear corner, and the two defenders are set side by side. Aiming straight down your own sideline gives the nearer defender an easy, in-stride block. Aiming instead toward the gap between the two defenders, biased slightly to the straight side, forces one of them to cross into the other's space, and a rushed, off-balance block rarely clears the net cleanly, which is exactly the loose reply your partner is waiting to kill.

Playing a left-handed opponent doesn't change the principle, only the side. Their racket-side hip is on their right, not their left, because the zone is defined by which hand holds the racket, not by which side a right-handed opponent usually presents. Check the grip before you commit to a target, especially the first time you play someone new.

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When open space is actually better

Two situations genuinely favour open space over the body. The first is a defender whose racket is already committed to guarding one side, which leaves the other side open rather than defended. The second is any smash that lacks full pace, where a body target just gets blocked comfortably back to the net.

According to singles smash-placement guidance, if an opponent's racket is already sitting on one side, or they are out of position too far to that side, smashing to the other side beats smashing at their body: you are hitting into a gap they have already conceded, not into a stroke they can still make. The same logic applies to an opponent standing too far forward, where hitting to the side farther away from them works as well as hitting at their body.

Pace matters as much as position. When you're intercepting a flatter lift or clear rather than smashing from a full, set-up swing, a body target is the wrong choice, because a defender can cope with a slower smash and block it comfortably to the net. Open space wins instead, and the direction is the mirror of the shot you're intercepting: if it came in straight, smash cross-court; if it came in cross-court, smash straight. In doubles, keep that open-space shot straight or central where you can. Wide cross-court smashes are still avoided even when space opens up, because the extra distance gives both defenders time to recover.

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Practise it, and play it safely

Target selection is a decision you can drill directly: have a partner feed lifts from a fixed spot, call your target zone out loud before you swing, and only count the rep as a pass if the shuttle actually lands there. Add movement and random feeds once the stationary version is easy.

Start with a partner feeding lifts from a stationary position at the net. Before each smash, call "hip" or "middle" out loud, then hit that zone under normal pace, not maximum effort, since accuracy is the skill being trained here. Once you can call and hit the racket-side hip reliably, add a second feeder position and a random call from your partner so you're reading the situation instead of rehearsing a single shot. A workable structure for one session: ten lifts to the racket-side hip, ten to the chest from a closer feed, then ten with a random call between the two, resetting your count whenever the call and the landing spot don't match.

One safety and etiquette note belongs alongside all of this. Aiming at a person's body is legal and normal in badminton, and it is a genuinely different thing from aiming at their head. Badminton House's guidance, regardless of what any single coaching source recommends, is to never intentionally target the head: a shuttle at smash speed close to the face carries real eye and facial injury risk that no rally is worth. Keep the target on the torso, dial pace back in casual and mixed-ability games, and save full-pace body smashes for matches where everyone on court understands and accepts them.

Banner photo: Joelflorentinpereira, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.