Victor Lai Diary: Talking Drift

Day Two of Victor Lai’s journey as he preps for the BWF World Championships 2026. After a practice session in the arena, Lai talks about taking note of the conditions, getting a sense of the flight of the shuttle, and the technical adjustments he would have to make.

Today was my second practice in the main hall. Got used to the conditions a bit better today. Very obvious, one side there’s drift: one side is slower and one side’s faster. The side drift’s not crazy strong, but still a little bit… still pretty strong, so a lot of things to be aware of and adapt and a bit of match planning too.

Between judging the shuttle and where it eventually falls, is it a big difference?

Yes, I would say so. The wind blows it very strong. But honestly, I’ve kind of gotten used to it a lot of places like this, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand too, a lot of these Asian countries have this sort of drift. I won’t say like I’m perfect, but I’m getting used to it.

But it changes once spectators come in, and the air-conditioners switch on?

Yes, I’ll have to be ready to adapt if I start the game and I feel like it’s starting to change.

I think you can learn a lot from just warming up. You can learn like 60 to 70 per cent. Starting the match with newer shuttles, and then depending on how many people are in the stadium… there’s a lot of things I need to be ready to adapt.

Like learning how fast the bird drops, and which corners I need to be aware of. For example, if there is a side drift, I have be careful of hitting cross because the wind might blow it out. Stuff like this I’m starting to already think about.

Technically, any fine-tuning that’s going on?

A little bit, I think the shuttle is pretty floaty, like it doesn’t drop as fast because of the wind. So I think learning to be a bit more sharp with my strokes, have a bit of a smaller swing — that would be important when it comes to attacking shots.

Follow Lai’s Journey Here Throughout the BWF World Championships 2026