US Open 2004 Singles Winners

I thought I should furnish some information on our recent young champions, Kendrick Lee and Xing Aiying, who just won the US Open.

Kendrick Lee

Kendrick first got curious in badminton when he was only aged 5. Then his businessman father, John, had been bringing his two older sisters, Justina and Clara, to play regularly every Sunday morning. Kendrick managed to cajole his less skilful piano teacher mother to spar with him as the others were too good for him. When Kendrick turned 7, he trained under Wong Shoon Keat, Singapore's only Southeast Asia Games 1983 badminton gold medalist (I think he beat Icuk, now head of the Indonesian Badminton Assoiciation) and his mother was more than happy to be his chauffeur than his 'sparring partner'.

Kendrick won many trophies from his student days at Catholic High School and he went on to win the National Under-12, U-14 and U-17 and even the National Championship in 2000.

Having proven himself locally, Kendrick then wanted to see how he would fare internationally. When he was 18, he took a semester off from his Information Technology studies at the Singapore Polytechnic to train intensively for the Commonweath Games and the World Junior Championships in July 2002. He had contemplated becoming a professional to prove himself that he could compete against the best in world if he did well in the WJC.

During the WJC 2002 in Pretoria, South Africa, he entered the quarter final by beating Denamark's 2m tall Mikkel Delbo Larsen 15-7, 15-8. (Simon Santoso of Indonesia was then surprisingly beaten by Rohan Castelino of India, 4-15,15-13, 17-14.) He even entered the final but lost to a Chinese 10-15, 5-15 to become Singapore's only local-born second-best junior player in the world! No doubt he had done well for his target then was the quarter final. He also helped the Commonwealth Games mixed team to win a silver.

After his WJC success, Kendrick had 3 options regarding his future:

1. He could continue his studies at the Polytechnic.
2. He could stop school completely and turn professional after his 2 years' of National Service, which is compulsory for a young man of 18 onwards, for both citizens and permanent residents.
3. He could request the Ministry of Defence to allow him to train full-time after his 3-month basic military training.

It became clear that a modified form of Option 3 was 'thankfully' taken with Kendrick going through his process of National Service and the MOD allowing him time off to train for major competitions. Otherwise, we might have lost a real local-born talent. But admittedly, his NS stint had somewhat put paid to his progress until recently. That was why we heard so little of him last year.

But I guess all is not lost and if Kendrick is able to show the same sort of hard work, commitment, confidence and determination as he did for his success at the Thailand Asian Satellite in May (beating China's You Hou
15-9, 15-7, a mini-breakthrough for Kendrick who had found it hard to beat a Chinese at an international previously), Cheers Asian Satellite Championships and the US Open (both in September) this year and became the first local-born to win a GP event, he should be able to go further and make Singapore proud as his mentor and good friend, Ronald Susilo, did so successfully.

It goes to prove that with the right support from parents, friends, the SBA and the Sports Council, local-born talents can do as well.

Xing Aiying

Aiying started with wushu when she was eight but as she wanted something more rigorous to combat weight problems, she switched to badminton.
Now 15, Aiying hailed from Jiangsu, China and first competed as a 7-year old in the Nianjing City tournament in doubles and won a silver. Subsequently she became a singles champion in her age group in the same competition in 1998, 1999 and 2002. She was also champion in the 2001 National Circuit and sixth in the 2001 National Badminton Championships.

She was first offered a one-year contract with the SBA in about March 2003 and since she is still around, her contract must have been extended. She appears to be happy in Singapore, probably because a number of her elder 'sisters' were from China as well and now another batch of slightly younger sisters and brothers have also been recently recruited by the SBA.

When Aiying first came here, she was relatively short at 1.63m and weighed 50 kg. Probably that was the reason why she was not called up for centralised training in Beijing despite her U-13 title as even the Jiangsu coaches prefer shuttlers to be at least 1.7m. Within a year, she has grown taller and stronger and her fitness is reported to be better than that of some of the men in the National Team and faster! She is a class above even the senior local girls! Now Singapore is benefitting from this unpolished 'jewel' with its 'uncanny eye' for making the right choice.

Singapore's policy is to get them young and nurture them to become champions. Aiying's doubles partner, Shinta Mulia Sari, now 16 and probably slightly shorter, who came from central Java, Indonesia as the U-15 champion, joined the SBA in July 2003 not long after Aiying's arrival.

SBA's package for the young newcomers include full board and lodging, training, overseas competitions, an allowance and the study of English (so that they can assimilate better into the Singapore community). I suppose better incentives are given if the trainee performs well during training and competitions. The ultimate reward is Singapore citizenship but not all can make it as a number of both Chinese and Indonesian shuttlers have fallen by the wayside and returned to their home countries.

But for Aiying, she is serious to become a true-blue professional like Li Li. She has given up studies and the comforts of her Jiangsu home for her chosen sport. As she once said in Mandarin: "I can go back to studies even after 30. But I cannot play badminton at that age".

At merely 15, this US Open title has just given her the right opening for more titles to come! She has made a gamble and the risk appears worth the taking. For she may not have a chance to compete in faraway Orange County had she remained in Jiangsu. It is a pity that she missed Disneyland though. But I'm sure in future she will have lots of opportunity to try the French or the Japanese clones. That is if she remains as passionate, committed and focused as before.

 

I believe they were all captured within their respective provincial age-group tournaments and not at the National level, Aiying in Jiangsu and Sari in central-Java. As you know, even if you are the age-group champion at the National level in China but your physique is not quite up to par, they may decide not to select you as there are many more potentials in the queue.

So for Aiying and Sari, coming from a less developed country in economic terms, it makes more sense for them to try out Singapore and it proves that they are not far wrong. They have a chance to be developed further by experienced and successful coaches and the opportunity to see the world.

The problem comes when they become 'soft' after experiencing the good life here and slowly take things for granted. Then they will be on their way out back to their country of origin instead of becoming Singapore citizens. On the other hand, the prospect is good for the really committed like Ronald Susilo, now the hero and practically a house-hold name. Because of him, Singapore badminton has now gone a rung higher with so many school children taking to the game now. Just incredible compared to a year ago and this is exciting times for Singapore badminton. Aiying seems to be of a similar mould as Ronald and the stars will shine brightly on her if she continues to make progress. I certainly hope she'll succeed beyond all expectations!

 

Thankfully, in Singapore's case of foreign talent imports for badminton, the candidates are specially selected with the clear understanding that it is badminton that they will be given training in not studies. So these age-group teenage talents know right from the start that they have to continue to excel in the game, otherwise if midway through they can't make the mark, they will be sent home and thus lost their benefits and the opportunity cost like not having the chance to continue to study instead of turning pro. There is a case here of an adult athlete from China, a hammer thrower, who would have been attending university by now if she had not decided to turn pro, but unfortunately she did not meet her targets and is now in a limbo, not knowing what to do next. She is more in the category of an athlete who has probably turned soft and less committed.

Except for a few cases, most of the foreign imports for badminton are in their early teens so that if they somehow do not fit in down the road, they can be repatriated back to their home country much more easier than the adults without perhaps too much damage done to both parties. As I have posted previously, we do encounter such problems as interest and commitment can change as the trainee grows older. There is no full proof and we just have to deal with such problems as satisfactorily as possible as and when they occur.

The introduction of the Sports School here, hopefully, will help to reduce the number of misfits as the selection process is much more stricter and only those teeagers believed to be suitable will be admitted.

 

Oh Seven, I'm just like everybody else here, simply interested in badminton. Maybe, I've slightly more passion than some of you in wanting to know more about what is going on, taking the trouble to find out more and keeping past newspaper clippings on the badminton scene here. And trying to improve my badminton knowledge by attending courses conducted by the SBA and getting to know the players, both past and present, the coaches and the SBA officials. And of course to play in as many friendlies as possible so as touch base with the local badminton fraternity as well as overseas. Incidentally, my graduate alumni will be hosting an annual games series with our Malaysian counterparts and this gives us an opportunity to reciprocate their hospitality when they played host in Kuala Lumpur last year. I also try to attend as many tournaments as possible, here and in the region. You perhaps recalled my posts on the TC in Jakarta and how I missed that important event just because I was unable to confirm my hotel arrangement the last minute. However, I attended the one held in KL (Bukit Jalil) with my club players, Malaysia being much more nearer and familiar.

The nearest I've come to being associated with the SBA was when I represented my club at SBA AGMs for a few occasions in the past, my club being an 'affiliate' of the SBA. I understand that they have changed the name 'affiliate' to 'member' recently.

In a sense, badminton has become not only a form of exercise and joy for a senior citizen like me, it is now an interesting hobby. I hope I can continue to enjoy this feather game for many more years to come.

 

Iwan, it's good that you still have that passion in you to excel.

Unfortunately at this stage of Singapore's badminton development, I don't think there is any scheme by the social clubs here as yet to train players in your category. You know, we do have ex-national and junior players who have served national (military) service and even completed tertiary education (polytechnics and varsities) in the age group of 21 to below 30 years, who may want to play at a higher level, just below the national level perhaps, but may not have the wherewithal to do it. We do not have a badminton leaque system as they have in Europe, whereby a graded hierarchy up to the professional level, has tournaments included in their badminton calendar. I think Seven has described the leaque system sometime ago (?)

It is possible that Singapore may one day have a professional leaque and this will certainly spice up the scene here and making the game more interesting! But we must have a big enough base of good players first and the social and badminton clubs here must be encouraged to recruit players like Iwan to play for them. The SBA and the Sports Council can help by giving out proper incentives as what our professional soccer S-Leaque now enjoys!

For Iwan's information, the SBA has, sometime during mid-2004, recruited two 18 year-olds to play for Singapore. One is from China and the other, Djohan Erwin, is from Indonesia. Djohan recently won the Under-19 Cheers Youth International by beating local boy, Chew Swee Hau, in straight games in the finals.

Just some pics below on the personalities described in my posts:

 

Yes Kwun, I whole-heartedly agree with you that a professional league is a different proposition altogether. Great demands are required of the players, officials and organisers. (I'm sure Seven is in a better position to share his experience.) That is why Singapore is still not quite prepared yet to initiate this. And although our soccer S-League has been in existence for quite a long time (probably close to 10 years (?), they still encounter difficulties here and there, particularly in the finance area. A few clubs have gone under although there are replacements.

Most of the social and badminton clubs here do not treat badminton that seriously in the sense that the game is played as a social activity and not very much into competition. The bigger clubs like the Chinese Swimming Club, Singapore Swimming Club and perhaps SAFSA (Spore Armed Forces Sports Assn) are the more active ones who have a big enough base to make it worthwhile to organize on a bigger and more competitive scale. But still, I don't think they have a long-term program to train their players.

The SBA does organize amateur tournaments like the age-group, masters and nationals as the one to be held this mid-month. As you know, Cheers as the sponsors, have made it possible for the SBA to hold more competitions apart from the Youth International, Satellite and Open. As far as the age-group tournaments are concerned, the participants are mainly from the schools and the national trainees.

I can see that the SBA, in conjunction with the SSC, is intensifying and broadening its activities by upgrading those interested through conducting courses in various aspects of the game, like umpiring, coaching, etc. This is good as we can then count on a much bigger base of able-bodied badminton enthusiasts to expand the boundaries of the game here and this may be useful as a prelude to a professional badminton B-League for Singapore.

Singapore B-League

But to rely on the clubs here to support the B-League will be difficult, mainly because their interest is varied and they cannot be seen to pump in a large portion of their resources, particularly financial, to the promotion of badminton alone.

However, a tie-up with commercial sponsors who want to be linked to an up-and-coming sport like badminton now, a B-League is certainly possible. As with most things, we can start off on a smaller scale and gradually expand as more experience is gained along the way. I only hope that the SBA has a blueprint for this and take advantage of the current interest that has been generated by our successes in the international arena like the Commonwealth Games, SEA Games and IBF tournaments.

I think China currently has such a league in place, although I'm not sure of the details.

 

Oh I've forgotten your time there. It is actually evening 7 pm here.

What you said is both feasible and practical. We now have quite a number of SBA approved training centres and you can view this on the SBA website.

In fact, just this afternoon I found out the Yao Fen, China's ex-national women doubles player who won the All-England 1992 and the bronze for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, is recruiting coaches for her 'Tian Yu Badminton Training Centre' here. I'm sure these centres can organize tournaments to excite their trainees and to foster a sense of camaradarie among their members. These centres are now getting bigger and hence more active. It will be a natural consequence for incentives such as tournaments to follow.

 

Hi Wickeddrop

How nice to hear from you again!

I think badminton in Singapore got into the limelight largely due to the farsighted leadership of the SBA and the support given by the SSC and our government.

Some of my friends may disagree with me citing the fact that the 'new' committee, which is only into its second term (of 2 years each term) of office, lacked the relevant experience. But this is not true because while the top policy-making body came with a vast 'top administrative and executive' experience in other fields (incl. other sports), there are committee members who were national players themselves and many of the technical stalwarts like the chief umpires, etc, are still around willing to serve. As a matter of fact, I feel that a 'fresh' outlook brought into the 'old' SBA system actually did it a lot of good. This is proven by the increased number of activities, particularly tournaments, the turnout at such competitions, the success at international tournaments with the resultant surge in interest in the game and the sponsorships that have been garnered to continue to fuel all these activities.

The stress of this new committee, I feel, is on a proper blueprint for the long-term interest of Singapore badminton and to ensure that it is carried out according to plan, right from the basic to the top level. So now we are trying to build a bigger base of players at all levels, particularly at the school level. We now have the Sports School and we continue to import 'unwanted' talents, both players and coaches, from their home countries to supplement our own and to provide the competitive edge. At the same time, the SBA is seen to be more accommodative of entrepreneurship by allowing training centres or badminton schools to be set up.

Now what have all these got to do with you? The common denominator is TIME. Eighteen years ago, you may not be able to survive the system, not only from the 'administration' viewpoint but also from the parental viewpoint. I have elaborated on the new face of the SBA and only now do we have the Sports School which slowly gained the confidence and acceptance of the parents. We now have very experienced imported coaches to train our players, something I doubt we have 18 years ago.

Yes indeed, when you left Spore for the US at about 12 years of age, this would be the ideal age for you to be trained now at our Sports School. It means 18 years too late, unfortunately. Judging from your badminton ability then, I have little doubt that you can make it to our Sports School - an excellent place to study and play at the same time!

Seven

It seems to me that the French league system is an ideal one as it so extensive - covering from the beginner to the professional level. If properly managed with clear objectives, then the French national team should be one to reckon with in the not too distant future. Btw, it must take quite a long time (throughout the year?) to complete the leaque?

But the question begets - how well-run are all the levels not only in terms of tournaments but right down to the basic level of training, coaching, officiating, administration, incentives, support, sponsorship, etc?