I have checked around: Fang Kaixiang was born in Pekalongan, then moved to Surabaya and was part of the Surabaya Overseas Chinese Badminton Club before he went to China. Later, he represented Guangdong, where he still is based now. After his playing career, he coached the Malaysian Thomas Cup team to their last Cup-victory, in 1992. Then he was 'assigned' by the Chinese Badminton Association on an official task to coach in Tangkas. After 5 years or so, he returned to China. Now he is back in Indonesia, coaching Djarum's singles team since 2005. A professional worldwide coach... He he he... And yes, he likes to hold a traditional Chinese fan. Like the ancient gongfu master who likes to use a fan: Chu Lu Xiang.
Andre just defeated Kendrick Lee of Singapore, current world #19. With straight sets: 21-17, 21-16. So, we can add Kendrick Lee in the list of Andre's casualties in the past 2 months... World # 59, Roman Spitko (straight sets) World # 23, Yeoh Kay Bin (straight sets) World # 21, Ng Wei (straight sets) World # 20, Roslin Hashim (straight sets) World #19, Kendrick Lee (straight sets) World # 16, Andrew Smith (straight sets) World # 10, Kenneth Jonassen (rubber sets); currently Kenneth is world #8.
congrats to Andre...he's a serious contender for INA's top 3 once Taufik retires... Fang Kaixiang looks cool...if he was wearing Chinese traditional dress he would look like a gongfu master.
Andre just lost to Park Tae Sang in the Thailand Open... Park is back! After reaching the quarterfinals of 2004 Olympics, somehow he did not appear too much at the international level... Here's a picture of Andre after a game...
Philipine Open In the 1st round, Andre will be very likely to meet Lu Yi (CHN) Austrian Int Champ. who's playing in the qualifiers. Lets see if Andre can pass this challenging test... Cheers
2007 Indonesia Challenge #2 seed, Andre Kurniawan,won his first match against Farhad in the 2007 Indonesian Challenge in Surabaya. He will probably face # 9 seed, Lee Cheol Ho of Korea, in the Round of 16 and then Tommy Sugiarto [seed #8] in the semifinals.
Revised casualty list Ok, here are the revised list of casualties of Andre the Giant Killer during the course of this year: World # 59, Roman Spitko (straight sets) World # 23, Yeoh Kay Bin (straight sets) World # 21, Ng Wei (straight sets) World # 20, Roslin Hashim (straight sets) World #19, Kendrick Lee (straight sets) World # 16, Andrew Smith (straight sets) World #15, Wong Choon Hann (rubber sets) World # 10, Kenneth Jonassen (rubber sets) World # 9, Chen Yu (rubber sets) NEW!
Very inspiring perfomance.. However, i noticed that he never beat any INA top guns at international circuit before, right
Yup, Andre is fairly described as INA #4 Correct. So far, Andre has not defeated Taufik, Sony, and Simon -INA's top 3. Who also happen to be world #6, world #7, and world #10 ranked players on Earth today... Yup, INA is a tough badminton country to be in...
He is the male version of Yip Pui Yin... Energetic, physically strong, great endurance, never-say-die attitude, but his soft touches are not top-notch [by world standard]... Taufik and Simon are way better...
I don't think they have faced each other in a BWF-sanctioned tournament... Surely in practice... Andre and Tommy were both in the National Team together at one point... Don't know what were the outcomes... I agree that Andre vs. Tommy will be a fantastic matchup. I hope I get to see that in this week's Kejurnas...
i think the player who could take over taufik hidayat's place must show that he is gifted when he was still young like taufik. how old is andre? how old was taufik when he reached the finals of all england? whoever it is, that player must have the gift like taufik. the gift plus hard work would make a new champion.
