Latest News on Zhao Jianhua

What luck, I met Zhao Jianhua face to face this evening at the Singapore Badminton Hall.

Zhao has just returned from Guangzhou (Canton) where he and Yang Yang made an appearance to promote the 5-star China Open, currently being played at the quarter-finals stage.

I was sitting in the gallery with some of my club friends to witness the finals of the Zhao Jianhua Challenge Trophy Invitation Club Tournament 2002 (first posted by kwun). Zhao walked over to say hello to one of my friends, Philip, who has known Zhao since he first settled in Singapore about 9 years ago. Philip was then the Badminton Convenor for the Chinese Swimming Club (CSC) and was instrumental in getting a CSC membership for Zhao at a concessionary rate. Philip and Zhao conversed in Mandarin about Guangzhou and the business climate in Shanghai, especially for the food business.

Zhao returned in time to present his challenge trophy to eventual champion, Howell Engineering, which secured an impressive 3-0 win against CSC. Both teams were represented by two ex-National players. Donald Koh, who was my club's ex-captain, played first singles for Howell against John Lim (CSC) in two tightly-fought games. Both were ex-National players in their 30's. Howell also won the Men's Doubles and Veterans' Doubles (above 45 years). Zhao represented Jasmin Badminton Party and played first singles on the first day before departing for Guangzhou. Naturally he won against a much younger opponent.

About 5 years ago, Zhou was employed full-time by the Nanyang Group, which belongs to the See Hoy Chan Family. Apparently the family loves badminton and that was how Zhou got onboard. The Nanyang Group has interests in insurance, property, printing, etc. Zhou was first assigned to the printing department before he was transferred to the property department, where he still remains. He is not a freelance property agent as previously reported. Yes, Zhou recently invested in the chicken rice business with some badminton friends in Singapore.

But it appears that Zhou is very much focussed on badminton. He has plans to start a badminton school or academy here with like-minded badminton friends like our mutual friend, Philip, who is a businessman. (Yang Yang had started such academies in Malaysia, particularly in Johor (Batu Pahat?), but I'm not sure whether they are still on-going.) Philip said that Zhou has begun making inquiries to try to obtain concessions for a piece of land to build a 2-storey school building. Now, this inaugural tournament in his name begins to make more sense if he wants to entrench himself in Singapore badminton. I hope his dream will come true.

 

Lefty

I'm sorry that you did not have a chance to meet him. It was just a difference in timing - a week. Next time when you come by, do let me know and I will try my best to arrange something for you. I have Philip to help me since he is very close to Zhao.

LazyBuddy

Actually I was very tempted to take a pic with Zhao but thought it may not be appropriate at that time. My ex-badminton captain, Donald, being in the winning team, had a group photo with Zhao.

When Zhao came to my club in the early 90's to give a demonstration against Faris, who was an ex-junior player for Indonesia then and now a singles coach with the SBA, I think we had a group photo with him. I will have to dig up my old pics to confirm. Zhao's wife, I can't remember her Chinese name, came to our club to play about twice before when we moved to our present location about 2 years ago. At that time, I didn't know that she was Zhao's wife but I was very impressed with her
level of play, especially her wristwork at the net. You may probably know that there are a number of Chinese players, both men and women, currently coaching in Singapore because there is no language barrier here as the majority of the population is Chinese (about 70%) who are effectively bilingual in Mandarin and English. Our club managed to get the Chinese and ex-National players because we employed Yao Fen, formerly Chinese National player and All-England Ladies Doubles Champion, as coach to our juniors, when Yao Fen left the SBA as women's coach. She was responsible for grooming some of the young Chinese girls who help us to the silver medal for the mixed team event at the last Commonwealth Games. One of her girls, Li Li, eventually captured the Ladies' Singles gold medal at this Games. Li Li also gave Mia Audina, ex-Indonesian now representing Holland, a good fight before succumbing in 3 games at the current China Open. Unfortunately, we now lost Yao Fen to the schools as she is in great demand.

 

Lefty, I'll be glad to oblige the next time. Btw, where are you currently residing?

 

Cheung

It appears that Zhao is not coaching "professionally" as he is still holding a full-time job at the Nanyang Group, which is treating him well. Nanyang was even prepared to release him for any National assignment, i.e. to coach the national men singles players from time to time as he did not too long ago, but on a part-time basis only and as and when the SBA requires his services. Of course the latter arrangement with the SBA is not too appealing to Zhao, who prefers to be a full-time national coach at the right price.

Compared with most parts of China, the cost of living in Singapore is much higher and therefore it is quite understandable that Zhao needs a regular stream of "above-average" income. His wife, Wen Chin, as Lefty has clarified is the sister of Wu Wen Kai, once a well-known world-class player, and their 3-year old son, have returned to Guanxi, I was told, probably also on account of the high cost of living here. I suppose, back home, his wife will not only be among more familiar surroundings, but also has the assistance of relatives to call upon whenever necessary. So Zhao has to make trips to and fro Guanxi from time to time.

Zhao spends some of his free time playing badminton with his Nanyang colleagues and sometimes with ex-Chinese and Singaporean national players. As I have posted previously, his objective is to establish a badminton school in Singapore but his dream may just remain a dream as not much headway has been made. Ideally, he would prefer to run and manage full-time a badminton academy like what the Sidek brothers of Malaysia are doing. It will mean obtaining a piece of land big enough to build perhaps a two-storey school with at least ten badminton courts to train all levels of players. What the Chinese coaches normally do here is to go from place to place to teach badminton in the various schools during normal school hours and also to private groups, probably in the evenings and during weekends. To Zhao, this is a great waste of time and effort. Therefore he wants to have a school where the students can converge for training at a central location where their various needs can be met more adequately. I suppose, having attended the sport schools in China himself and having travelled extensively, he should be in a better position to establish a first-class school.

Until the Singapore Government and the SBA are ready to support private groups to develop the badminton game on a decentralized basis, enthusiastic people like Zhao will find it very difficult to come up with their own money to finance such endeavours. Unless the big commercial conglomerates are willing to lend their financial support, like what used to be the case with the F&N (Fraser & Neave) scheme.

If Badminton in Singapore is organized like football, namely the S-Leaque, Zhao and his likes will be able to make a big impact. The S-League comprises of privately-run football clubs (now 12 teams including one from China and our National U-23) but are partly financed by the Sports Council with many of the local teams having been assigned football stadiums with seating capacities of about 3,000 to 5,000 as their home ground. The individual clubs employ their own coaches, players and support staff and are responsible for getting their own sponsors to finance their operations, in addition to the subsidy from the SC. I guess the Sideks' professional badminton club, Nusa Mahsuri, is mainly funded through sponsorship.

So, it seems Zhao's dreams for Singapore badminton may never be realized under present circumstances unless a scheme akin to the S-League is in place for the competing clubs.

 

In Singapore, the term applies to a person who is in charge of badminton at a club or a company with badminton and perhaps many other sports activities like the SIA, Singapore Telecom or government-linked companies like Singapore Power, etc.

The Badminton Convenor, or Co-ordinator in some clubs, organizes badminton activities such as training, friendly games, social evenings, visits, etc, which are all related to badminton.

He may also be the Badminton Captain, even a non-playing one, if there is no suitable player to assume that position. He is often the leader and represents his club or organisation at friendly matches and other official functions. At such outings, he may have to give a short speech and exchange mementoes with the other clubs.

Big social clubs like the Chinese Swimming Club, Singapore Swimming Club, Changi Beach Club, call their badminton organizers "Badminton Convenors" and some of these members sit in the main Management Committee of the club. Others like the Warren Golf & Country Club call him "Badminton Co-ordinator" so as not to confuse with the word "Convenor", a title which is given to the Management Committee (MC)members like Sports Convenor, House Convenor, Social Convenor, Greens Convenor etc. In this club, the Badminton Co-ordinator does not sit in the MC but in the Sports Sub-Committee chaired by the Sports Convenor, who is an MC member. It all depends on the organizational structure of that particular institution.

 

Unless special arrangements are made beforehand, most private clubs in Singapore like the CSC are only open to members and their guests. There are rules governing the signing in of guests whose visits can be restricted and guest fees must be paid by the responsible member.

In the case that you described, if the CSC is used as a badminton training centre approved by the SBA (S'pore Badminton Association) then there must be some rules governing its use and whether non-members who are selected for training can be accepted to train there.