Sairul, from Malaysia, currently ranked no.17 in the world is playing in the Equinox NZ Open tournament. I have managed to have a small chat with him so far and he has generously agreed to grant me an interview with him at the end of the tournament. I'm currently compiling a list of questions to ask him and was wondering whether you guys would like to ask him anything. I told him about Badminton Central and he sends his regards to all of you! Sairul as you know is a great badminton player, having reached the last 16 of the All England this year, quarter-finals in the Korean Open, losing to Peter Gade but after beating Mohd Roslin Hashim in the 3rd round. He stretched Lin Dan in 3 sets in 2004 Indonesian Open in the round of last 16 and gave Chen Hong a run for his money in the recent Malaysian Open (losing in three sets). Sairul has controversially been dropped from the Badminton Association of Malaysia squad by coach, Misbun Sidek and is currently playing for a private professional club, coached by Indra Gunawan. Sairul has promised to tell me more about this, plus giving me insights and gossips on the international and Malaysian players, his most memorable moments in badminton, toughest opponent, who he's friends with, his goals, thoughts and opinions on badminton brands, equipments and funny antedotes about himself and other players! If there is anything you guys want me to ask him, please let me know. Adelina
Seems interesting stuff! I don't have any particular question but I'm looking forward to reading your interview! (BTW : yes I'm back on BF )
I'm not sure I have any specific questions but I, too, am interested in learning more about Sairul. I seem to remember hearing recently that he was on a kind of comeback trail. From what? How old is he? Was he dropped from the national team and then given a second chance? Did I hear he was relegated to being someone's sparring partner? It's difficult to find any information on him but he certainly looked impressive at the Korea Open. Okay, I guess I did come up with some specific questions but if you're interviewing him, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you can likely already answer some of the simple things I asked. I look forward to seeing your article.
I am assuming he is not affiliated with BAM, although I think BAM asked him to join the national squad. How does he choose his tournaments? Is he playing in NZ because it is nearby (relatively) Malaysia? How does he fund his trips? Does the prize money cover everything? Is there a sponsor, or does he fork out his own money? How does he train? Equipment? Is badminton his full-time thing? Or does he have other profession, business? If I am making all the wrong assumptions, and asking stupid questions, then forget it and forgive me
Since Sairul is not affiliated...does this mean he has no chance of making the Commonwealth Games team? Due to this fact, perhaps you should ask him how he feels about not being able to play for his country in prestigious events such as Thomas Cup, Comm Games, Olympic Games, etc.
Hi Chibe_K. If you look at page 1 under "Equinox NZ Open" in the 2005 Tournaments forum, you will see his pic there taken with lil ol me
