Translated by Avatar. Yang Yang, born 1963 December 8th. in Jiangsu province, Nanjing city. Standing at 1.76m, left handed, He possesses high agility and quick footwork. He is regarded as an offensive singles player. Yang begin training in 1975 (12 yrs old) in Physical Education Colleigate for Youth. He was recruited by the Chinese national team in 1983. He won his first national championship title in 1984. In 1985, he won the Hong Kong open by defeating Morten Frost. In 1986, he won the Japan Open, Hong Kong Open, and also help China to retake the Thomas Cup by winning key matches. He contributed significantly in the three consecutive win of Thomas Cup for China. In 1987, he continued to dominate the World Championship (1987, 1989) and various international tournaments. In 1988, he won the Olympic Gold as an exhibition event in Seoul. With his spectacular achievements, fans has respectedly nicknamed him the "King of Kings" out of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of badminton in his professional career as a player. He is the only badminton player in the world who accomplished a Grand Slam. This record still stand today in the Guiness Book of World Records. In 1990, he retired as a player and start coaching in Malaysia. In the very next year, he lead Malaysia to win the Thomas Cup. He then stayed in Malaysia to develop his business for badminton equipment for many years. He returned to China in year 2000, and open a badminton club name after himself in Nanjing. http://www.yangyangclub.com/ -end of translation I hope i have make minimal mistakes in this. I am guessing Grand Slam at the time would be AE, Japan Open, German Open, and World Championship.
i remember when i was 4 or 5 years...every time i heard sport news in radio...i always hear yang yang and li lingwei won tournament..that's made me interest in this sport..sounds like they're my hero when i was a kid...not superman or wonder woman
Was he left handed? I NEVER got to watch him play. By the time i was interested in the game, he was not even the coach of Malaysia any more. The first recquet i ever bought was a yang yang though.
I have the previlage to watch Yang Yang playign live in Singapore Open when he was new to the scene and when he was a very establsihed player. I still can remeber he strucked me as an extremely quick player but his defence was very weak (especially for smashes aim to his body) when the first time I saw him played. But he improved leaps and bounds over 1-2 years period that suddenly he was quite unbeatable. He always give me the kind of a "scholar" look (as compared to the rough look on ZJH) and not really like an athlete. But when on court, he was lightning quick and can give out some killer cross court smashes. He was also the first world-class left-handed player I know.
yeah, i was very young when i saw his matches. he always looks super cool to me in court. like masters of kung fu. not the movement but the energy. the confidence. the attitude. he was one of my favourite. i wonder if anybody have ever requested a video of his matches. wonder if it is even available. i need to go check the video section.
Yang Yang, Zhao Jian Hua, Morten Frost & Icuk Sugiarto formed the "Four Heavenly Kings" from late 80's to early 90's. IMO, Yang Yang is the all-time greatest badminton player, having won all the majors including All England, World Championship, Olympic(demostration) etc.
Avatar, here are some corrections based on Source 1 & Source 2: Yang Yang was born in 1963 Dec 9th. He contributed in two consecutive win of Thomas Cup for China. He retired as player in 1991.
Should be three consecutive win of Thomas Cup for China which was in year 1986(as second singles), 1988 (as first singles) and 1990( first singles).