was in the gym today. sat next to another badminton player. was chatting about badminton (of course. :) ) he was telling me that he plans to go fly down to watch the US Open semi-finals on friday, and then fly back up the next morning. (he cannot attend the final)

i was quite impressed by his dedication. then he told me that he has done that for the All England, he flew into the UK from US, watch the AE final, then the next day he flew back the US!

he also told me that he has went to a badminton vacation in Croatia. apparently some Austrian company organizes this. they'd rent a gym for a week. all participants in the badminton vacation would get together every day and play badminton twice, once in the morning, and once late in the afternoon. and other than one tour day, that's about all they do.

i think that is very cool there are many badminton fanatics around us. i was going to invite him to BF. but he left before i finished my game....

Totally a devoted fan to badminton, well-of too if i might add...

I suppose he is also rich enough to take the plane so often... :rolleyes:

wow... truely a fanatic... His "record" makes my daily trip to Boston seems like nothing.

By the way, if he flies this often, I assume he can build up his "frequent fly bonus" very quickly. :D

I used to think many of us were pretty big badminton fanatics, going to play baddy 5 or more times a week, etc. After reading this thread, it sure says a lot about the person's devotion of the game. It's too bad you couldn't get the chance to introduce him to BF kwun, I'm sure he'd come on here quite often.

Think you'll see him again? or did he tell you it was a one time visit?

Fortune Magzine 2003 just released a list of Billionaires and Multi-millionaires under the age of 40. Top of the list is Roman Abramovich, 36, a young Russian who is reported to be worth US$8.3 billion. He is apparently the governor of oil-rich Chukotka and his love, unfortunately for us, is not badminton but soccer. His toy - the Chelsea FC (Football Club).

Britain heads the list with 8 of such young wealthy, high networth individuals followed by Russia (7), China (6), Switzerland (6), Japan (2) and one each from Canada (Robert Julien 35, $314M), Denmark (Anders Holch Povisen 30, $500M), Germany (Stefan Quandt 37 $5,100M), Hong Kong (Richard Li 36, $741M), India, Israel, Mexico, Norway, South Korea (Kim Taek Jin 36 $266M), Turkey and Venezuela.

The US, I think is not included in the list. otherwise we should see a record number from that country.

Could it make a difference to the badminton world scene if one or more of these filthy rich, especially those from the badminton crazy countries like China, take to the game like our Russian billionaire who bought over Chelsea FC?

If you ever have a chance to strike it rich like those on the Fortune list, how would you want to contribute to badminton in your country or to world badminton? Or you would only just like to fly all over the place to watch world-class matches like what kwun's new-found acquaintance did recently. Hopefully, you will not forget all your BF friends and continue to communicate with us. Or Maybe, you feel better to invite us all for a badminton camp in the remote corners of the Great Italian Alps, the exotic Andes or just the Rocky Mountains?

I'd probably pay RTM to do better programming on TV regarding badminton broadcasts. The current really sucks. I remember once that they actually delay even the prime time news until the first set was over during previous Thomas Cups.

Other than that, perhaps I'd organize an inter-continental BF Championships held all year :

Round 1 - City Tournament
Round 2 - District/Provincial
Round 3 - National
Round 4 - Regional
Round 5 - International

and all this to be done all year round, with the Finals held somewhere every year. We'd see our own ranking systems etc etc! We'd have our own World (BF) Champion!

We can all dream, no? :D

Third would probably to buy over Yonex and do something about the pricing.

If I am a multi-billionaire, I will buy 20 large pieces of land throughout my country and built 20 big international standards badminton hall with 20 international tournament standards badminton courts in each of the hall and employ 20 international standards badminton coach for each of the hall to train the young and keen potential players (obviously more than 20 of them) full time for my country. I will also sponsor them complete attire and assessories and build dormitories for them to stay and provide them food as well. :D

Now, with all my good intentions declared, can someone please make me a multi-billionaire... :D

Originally posted by Carbonexer
If I am a multi-billionaire, I will buy 20 large pieces of land throughout my country -
Now, with all my good intentions declared, can someone please make me a multi-billionaire... :D

Now, at least we can look forward to your promises. But which country are you from?

Originally posted by Loh
Now, at least we can look forward to your promises. But which country are you from?
I am from M'sia but working in S'pore to be a multi-billionaire in RM$. :D Besides S'pore is too small for me to fulfill my promises.

On a separate note, I have to say that most of the sports hall in Singapore is far too terrible. Clementi Sports Hall is one of the most horrible court I have ever played at. Its almost unplayable during daytime. Who ever the person design it is a no brainer. :mad:

Abramovich is certainly turning our premiership league on it's head. But then again football is a game where money matters. Someone can come in and just buy buy buy.

It seems to me badminton, certainly in this country, is going to need years of grass-roots promotion to help boost it. I am but repeating figures I have heard thrown around but apparently the average age of players registered with the Badminton Association of England is now something like 49.

That can't be good.

Originally posted by Carbonexer
I am from M'sia but working in S'pore to be a multi-billionaire in RM$. :D Besides S'pore is too small for me to fulfill my promises.

On a separate note, I have to say that most of the sports hall in Singapore is far too terrible. Clementi Sports Hall is one of the most horrible court I have ever played at. Its almost unplayable during daytime. Who ever the person design it is a no brainer. :mad:

Hi Carbonexer

Nice to know you are working here in S'pore. Looks like M'sian badminton will benefit immensely from your generosity if you should become a billionaire.

But since you have mentioned about the "terrible sports hall" in S'pore, you can contribute by making them better. Incidentally, the Clementi Sports Hall was built long time ago and as you may have experienced, the hall is venue to not just badminton alone but many other sports and recreational activities such as table-tennis, occasional basketball, fencing and even Tai Chi. Most of them are multi-purpose halls as they are community centers serving the interest of the public.

However, if you go to some of the recently built halls, like Choa Chu Kang Sports Hall, you will find them much improved and certainly quite agreeable for badminton.

Yes, Singapore is too small for you to make a fortune to become a billionaire. But if you make S'pore as your HQ to serve the region, not only in Southeast Asia but the North and East Asian region as well, you may well be on your way to becoming a member of the Fortune 50 richest young person of the world! With a market size of well over 2 billion people, largely from China, India and Indonesia, if you can sell just a dollar worth of product or service to all these people, you can be a billionaire in no time!

That's one reason why some young Chinese are now in Fortune list. And to think that not too long ago, China was a communist country and is still officially one, but capitalism is allowed to play a part in its economic development. Now the whole world is converging there for a piece of the pie!

Sorry for this thing which I think almost all of us had been overlooking since this thread came online : it's "fanaticism".

:)

Originally posted by wilfredlgf
Sorry for this thing which I think almost all of us had been overlooking since this thread came online : it's "fanaticism".

:)

I'm glad you pointed out the right spelling for "fanaticism" which comes from the word "fanatic"

Hello
I just read about badminton vacation and its great idea. Do you have any information about this firm??