Singapore finishes 12th out of 34 nations competing at World Team Badminton Championships

Story by Jan Lin. Photo courtesy of badmintonphoto.

Guangzhou Gymnasium, Friday, May 15, 2009 – Singapore may have lost 1-3 to Chinese Taipei at the 2009 Sudirman Cup World Team Badminton Championships held this week in Guangzhou, but they have stayed true to their status as a cultural melting pot, fielding a good blend of Singapore-born and foreign athletes at this event.

The Sudirman Cup is a prestigious bi-annual badminton mixed team championship that has attracted the participation of 34 nations this edition despite the H1N1 outbreak. Singapore had finished 10th position at the last edition of the Championships held in Glasgow.

This year, the republic brought a team of 10 players comprising 4 Singapore-born athletes and 6 foreign-born, most of whom are already well-versed in the distinctive Singaporean slang. Singapore fielded every single player in the week-long campaign.

In the group preliminaries, Singapore fell to division 2 eventual runners-up Russia 3-2 then cam back to clinch victories over Netherlands 4-1 and then Poland 3-2. In the 11th/12th play-off against Chinese Taipei, Singapore lost in the mixed doubles, men’s doubles and women’s singles.

Singapore’s homegrown mixed doubles pair of Terry Yeo Zhao Jiang / Vanessa Neo Yu Yan lost 21-18, 21-16 to Wang Chia Min / Wang Pei Rong, while Indonesia-born men’s doubles Hendra Wijaya / Hendri Kurniawan Saputra was defeated 21-10, 19-21, 21-7 by Chen Hong Ling / Lin Yu Lang, before China-born Zhang Beiwen surrendered 21-18, 21-17 to Pai Min Jie.

The sole consolation point for Singapore was won by men’s singles player Ashton Chen Yangzhao, who has also enjoyed an impressive run in Guangzhou. Before today’s victory, the 20-year-old was narrowly pipped by world number 10 Wacha Przemyslaw in the preliminaries.

Ashton lost 23-21, 14-21, 19-21 to the Polish ace on Thursday afternoon.

“Even though I won my match today, my other match against Wacha was a lot more memorable,” recounted Ashton, “because Wacha has a very good ranking, much higher than me and plays at a higher level that I felt pushed me to my limits. It was one of the best games I’ve played so far.”

“I think I’m playing well because I take a very relaxed approach to my games…enjoying myself while I play,” said Ashton, who is currently balancing his duties as a national shuttler and NS man. “I’m really happy that, though this is a team event, I’m still able to be playing at my individual best!”

Ashton confessed that China’s former ace Xia Xuanze is the player he looks up to most because of his ability to maintain a relax attitude on court. He also shared his playing preferences – “I tend to play defensively. I like to run around the court a lot and I like to enjoy myself during the game.”

“I would give credit to my Chinese coaches, Pan Zhenli and Lin Youya, for developing me to who I am today,” said Ashton. “Pan Zhenli was my youth team coach, she has left SBA, but she was the one who really encouraged me and triggered my interest to take my game to a higher level.”

“The foreign talents in the squad brings a lot of variety to the game, which I definitely find helpful when we have to play at the international events like this,” said Ashton when asked to give his thoughts on having a mixture of foreign and local talents in the national set-up.

Ashton can expect healthy competition from his compatriot 20-year-old Derek Wong, who also defeated Netherlands’ Eric Pang in a thrilling tiebreaker match on Wednesday. “There is not much difference between Derek and I. Maybe I’m slightly more patient, just slightly,” Ashton revealed.

Derek’s parents are the former national and SEA Games champions – Wong Shoon Keat and Irene Wong. Unlike Derek, Ashton’s parents have no ties with badminton at all. It was Ashton’s older brother, Aaron Chen, a former national shuttler, who influenced him to pick up the sport.

“My parents are supportive because they believe that we should do what we love and test our limits,” Ashton asserted, “so I’m thinking of the 2012 Olympic Games but right now the SEA Games this year is on my mind, I don’t know if I will be selected for the team yet. I hope so!”