This, is really a very touching one. :crying: I almost cried. I'll pray for Huang Sui's dad, and for Gao Ling & Huang Sui as well. Her dad will be fine, he WILL see her play Olympics next year and see her winning as well.
Very touching. I cried when read this.:crying: Hope her dad can see Huang play in the Olympics next year.. And I also wish that Gao/Huang can be the Olympics Champion..
I almost cried when reading this too.. Huang Sui, I'm sure you will make your dad proud!!! And all Chinese people in China and around the world, we're proud of you!!!
gosh.... im sad for her as well.. its reli hard for her.. to choose between career and family.. i think she made the right choice.. nth more important than family.. however, she will reli have a HARD time leaving badminton.. its not easy to leave badminton once u're hooked up wit it...
I must say that I find the language of that story like from a fable. Maybe this is because of the cultural differences or maybe this is just the translation. E.g. don’t understand the issue of her mother “committing the suicide and being stopped“. For me the text emphasis to much the need to grab the OG gold for the country/team. It sounds like a movie where the hero needs to sacrifice everything to achieve the ultimate goal (to kill the bad guy, to save the world, etc.). Nothing else counts. In real life things are much more complicated. Despite she wins the OG gold or not her relations with parents will have to be built from the beginning anyway. We have here in fact a sad story of a girl who doesn’t know her parents at all because she has been with them only for three years when she was 4-7. Before that she was grown up by her grand mother and after few years with parents she was given to the training camp. Probably there were/is a lot of children like her who spend all their childhood in the training camp but they didn’t make it to become a national team player… When we see all those great athletes we don’t see what sacrifices they had to do to achieve their level of play. Those sacrifices were not her choice and from that article I feel that the final one concerning leaving the ill father to pursue her sport career was not her choice too. In the real life there are usually not only black and white choices. The article suggests that now she trains again and she is “not knowing if her father was any better”. Maybe her parents could move closer to the HS’s training camp to allow more frequent contacts. Maybe the association/sponsors could help in the HS’s father treatment which would motivate HS to stay in badminton. There should be something possible to be done between either dropping the OG gold or the family. Hope you understand my point… Regards Dzgdz
actually the issue of her mother "attempted to commit suicide but was stopped" is like this: when they were on vacation in Yunnan (If I've not mistaken), her mother was walking towards the deep sea, as in attempting to commit suicide but Huang Sui saw her mum doing that so while crying, she ran forward and pulled her mum back. I guess sometimes such fairy-tale-like stories do happen in real life. I know sometimes they sound rather unbelievable but its true.
I understand your point completely. But in a enormous country like China, unfortunately this kind of things do happen. I admit that there is probably a little "artistic freedom" in the original Chinese article, I have actually tried to tone down in my translation so that it does not read too sensational. There are many children in China that are brought into sports school/training centre at very tender ages (I have seen a documentary on how they brought up young gymnast) and went through what HS has gone through now. The only difference is HS is good enough that her story is published as a "role model", but there are many many others who did not make it to the top and end up with nothing despite all the sacrifices. Being from a poor and rural part of China, it is unthinkable for HS family to move to a big city like Beijing just to be near HS. From a practical point of view, I can understand her choice. I believe this is a sad and true story, and probably not the only one that is being play out now in China.
Can imagine the emotional torment she has to go through knowing that whatever decision she makes will have a great impact on her parents/relatives, friends esp. her double partner and fans too. That the coaches & team mates rallied round her & made efforts to visit her in Hunan is heart warming. Welcome back HS.
Thanks for this explanation. This is a very touching story indeed. But when you think how many of the similar stories is unknown simply because its heroes are not famous like HS... This is the price paid by the second, third, etc. tier players for China being so dominant in the recent badminton world. Btw - great translation.
We also hear of some other real life, heart-breaking stories of how parents worked so hard to give their children a good education and as good a home as possible, but when the children grew up, some got married and make a good living, they forget their parents. Some trusting parents were even driven out of their own homes when they transferred the ownership of their property to their children, thinking that their own flesh and blood would look after them when they are old. Unlike HS who was taken away when very young, such children were living with their parents until adulthood, unless they were given the opportunity of studying overseas. In this sense, HS's case is exemplary, despite the long period of separation from her parents and her livelihood was taken care of by the government.
touching story indeed. i guess she's made a hard choice; to choose between parents or her career... i feel sad for her. GO HUANG SUI!!
A touching story (Huang Sui) Huang Sui, who has been in the top three in women’s doubles almost consistently for the past 5 years, had to retire to be by her father’s side before he passed away, giving up on playing in her home Olympics. Mark Phelan and Ee Lyn Ooi take a look at this sad story. By Mark Phelan, Ee Lyn Ooi, Badzine Correspondents. Photos: Badmintonphoto (archives) and personal photos. If there is a player who understands sacrifice it is Huang Sui of China. In October, 2007, the effervescent, smiling Chinese star retired from competitive badminton to return home to care for her dying father, who, earlier in the year, had been diagnosed with cancer. Huang Sui faced then what is probably the toughest decision ever to make for an athlete: to have to chose between her dream - her career and what she’s worked so hard for - and her family. Her decision to retire was based on true family values. Her family needed her and, as she was an only child, she wanted to be there for her family in these hardest of times. She returned home to be at her father’s bedside and to care for him and in doing so sacrificed her chance of Olympic Gold in her home country. The “Water Closet” Miracle Huang Sui’s story began on January 8th, 1982 when she was born in Hunan province in China or, as most people know it, in ‘The cradle of badminton champions’ Huang Sui’s mother often spoke of her daughter not being an outstanding player when she first started to play badminton. But one man changed her life: her coach Yang Zhiyong saw her potential and began to train and tutor her. Under the watchful eye of Yang Zhiyong, she began to develop and improve rapidly but kept her joyful and somehow nonchalant way of training. One day, Yang locked her up in the bathroom and let her out only when she had promised she would change her attitude. She may have thought then that she wanted to keep being her usual self, but Yang’s strict coaching routine finally brought the best out of the flighty youngster. Hunan province was a poor area and most families from the province lived simple lives. Huang Sui’s family were no different. They were poor and to provide for a fledgling badminton career required funding so her dad Huang Chuanbiao had to go and work in Zhuzhou in order to pay for training and tournaments. Her mother remained behind at the family home and frequently made the trip to see her daughter at her training camp at the Anhua County Sports School. She used to cycle through the mountain roads in winter to bring Huang Sui food and goodies. Huang Sui always looked forward to her mothers visits but understood the sacrifices her parents made for her and her chosen badminton career. The International Years Huang Sui continued to develop and in 1997 she joined the Chinese National Team. She was widely known as a strength player with strong attacking characteristics: a type ideally suited to women’s doubles. On the court, she has a calm disposition, which indeed has got her through some very difficult matches in the past. Internationally, Huang Sui came to prominence along with her partner Gong Ruina (who would later become the world champion in the singles event) when they were runners-up in the 1998 World Junior Championships and in 2001 she won the Japan Open, the World Championships, and the first of her six prestigious All England titles with partner Gao Ling. She went on to capture more than 25 international titles – the most recent being the 2007 Macau Open – as well as participating in 3 Uber Cup wins, confirming Huang Sui as one of the best exponents of women’s doubles badminton of her generation. She had it all: strength, touch, and a positive spirit which helped her through some tough situations on court. Even so, she remained, somehow, in the shadow of Gao Ling, who is known to be one of the best players – if not the best – of her generation. At the age of 25, ranked as always within the top three in the world, Huang Sui was ready to take on the world at home for an Olympic Gold medal. In and Out of Retirement In March 2007, while preparing for the All England and an attempt at a 7th consecutive title, Huang Sui received news that her father was not well but she was, at that point, completely concentrated on the tournament at hand and paid little attention to the notice, thinking her father’s illness could not be anything serious. She returned home to China to visit her father after injury prevented her from progressing beyond the semi-final in Birmingham and from taking part in the Swiss Open, which was to follow. Huang Sui was surprised to find her father so ill when she got home and it brought the Chinese star to tears. He was brought to the hospital, diagnosed with cancer. It was at this point that Huang Sui decided to retire from the game of badminton so she could be at home to help her mother look after her dying father. After receiving news that Huang Sui had withdrawn from the national team, Head Coach Li Yongbo and women’s doubles coach Tian Bingyi together with eight other team members, including Gao Ling, Zhang Ning, and Lin Dan, visited Huang Sui and her family in mid-April, 2007. It was after these visitors had left that Huang Sui’s father expressed his wish that his daughter return to the National Team as he wanted to see her become Olympic champion. After much deliberation and discussion, Huang Sui decided to return to the National Team and continue working towards fulfilling both her own and her father’s dream of becoming an Olympic champion. The very next day, she booked a flight back to Jin Jiang and her family were relieved with her decision. Once back on the team, Huang Sui commenced regular training but she could only talk over the phone to her family and she spent most of her time wondering about her father’s condition. Although this was a burden on her, she continued to apply herself to her game. She had to take responsibility for her decision to go back and felt the need not to let her partner or her team down. “How could I possibly leave him?” Gradually her fitness returned and although she missed the Singapore and Indonesia Opens, she returned to competitive action, when along with her partner Gao Ling, she won the Thailand Open in July 2007. Following that, the same pairing won silver at the World Championships in August but it was after the ‘Good Luck Beijing’ Olympic test tournament in October that Huang Sui decided once and for all to stop playing and go home to be with her family as her father’s condition continued to deteriorate at an ever increasing pace. “I gave up everything and went home to stay by his side, to accompany him and to watch him; but all of it was hopeless. He tried his best to prove he was still healthy and that he could still go to Beijing and watch me play in the Olympics. He didn’t need me to worry about him. He didn’t want me to give up 20 years of my hard work. But how could I possibly leave him? How could I not worry and concentrate on my career? Many times I have asked myself what should I do and what the right thing to do is. I am a human, an ordinary human, a normal human, a simple person. It is fine for me to not get flowers, applause, status and glory; but it is very wrong for me to be emotionless, it is wrong for me to be unable to know what’s right or wrong,” wrote Huang Sui on her blog (the full translation of this blog is in the players’ section) She spent the next weeks by her father’s side and on Dec 4th, 2007 Huang Chuanbiao gave up his fight for life and passed away. His loyal and loving daughter was there at his bedside and as an only child she decided that home was where she should stay to look after and be with her mother. Huang Sui best sums up her own feelings in her blog entry dated the 13th of December, 2007, and it reads as follows: It is uncommon for us to not make mistakes in our lives but we can hope that we don’t have regrets. It is most important to be filial. I will feel better if I do so. I was with him through his last days. He did everything to raise me, and finally having me by his side in his last days, I guess he was able to leave peacefully. Dad did not enjoy life in comfort and happiness when he was around but his most treasured daughter was willing to give up everything and come back to his bedside and accompany him through his remaining days. Perhaps it was my filialness that touched God; He took all of dad’s pains. Even the doctor said it was an extremely rare chance, but dad left peacefully. He left by organ failure but not in pain. This could have been Dad’s luckiest experience.” The professional game of badminton will be a lonelier and darker place without Huang Sui. Her infectious smile brought so much happiness to so many people and if you happened to be in the same hall or venue as her, you probably felt the effect that smile had on all those around her. You just could not help smiling. Comment: After reading the lifestory of Huang Sui especially retiring to take care of his sickly Dad who just died recently, is one heroic act. She sacrifices her personal dreams for her family. How admiring =-). Huang Sui, you will never be forget by us. Your cheerful smile, hard smashes, and your never die attitude is unforgettable! =-) I am just wondering if you guys were in the situation of Huang Sui would you do the same of what she did? me, Yes. y? Becoz my family is the one of the most valuable important thing i have in my life that money or badminton cannot compare with. =-)
Quite a sad story..i really feel for Huang Sui... the doubles tandem of GL and HS together with YW and ZJW have special places in my heart now that her father had passed away.. i hope she changes her mind and go back to the team and still try to get that olympic gold in honor of her father. She will be surely missed though. Its different seeing GL and HS play..their dynamic on court is really refreshing to see..you can see that they really enjoy and love what they do.
don't hold your breath. it was reported many times that HS has already retired with no way to go back to the Chinese squad to gain a spot in the Olympics. furthermore, GL will be concentrating on mixed only.
very very sad.......... Dad’s funeral (13th December 2007, 23:26:23)I never expected that the first funeral I would ever attend would be my dad’s. It had been almost 10 months – since March when Dad was said to be suffering from lung cancer – till December. I have no idea how many times I have silently shed my tears during these seemingly endless months. It seems that there was no way I could accept the facts. Throughout these 10 months, what I felt most was that our life is really very fragile, that we really should take good care of it. I’ve seen a person’s process of life and death; I’ve seen a person who hopes to fight serious illness and then defeat it – a person who really hopes to bravely live on – how reluctant he was to leave the world and how attached he was to his family. I’ve seen with my own eyes a valuable life just ending like this. No matter how reluctant I was to let go and how hard I tried to detain, it all seem pale and helpless before the devil of this serious illness. <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">This is the first time a family member has passed away. This is hurting me really deeply… When I found out that Dad’s cancer had already reached its last phase in March, it was like a bolt from the blue to me. Dad was always a strong and healthy man to me. He was the pillar of the family. He was the person who did all the heavy work at home. However, when I came back from England after the tournament, what I saw was that it seemed so very difficult for Dad to carry a sack of things. I couldn’t hold on but shed my tears when I walked behind him. My dad has aged. It’s true that Dad is sick. It’s true that Dad has cancer. I hope you realize how close to impossible it was for me to believe and accept this fact! I couldn’t accept it. I really couldn’t accept it and I didn’t want to accept it either. He is only 56. He has just come across most things in life and he had to go – so soon. This is too unfair. All the difficulties in life have made his figure hunch. The time he spent working has turned him tired and shaggy. But, but – but why now?! He has not seen me getting married. He has not seen me playing in the Beijing Olympics. He has not seen his nephew being born. There are so many things that he hasn’t had the chance to see – He couldn’t wait any longer, he was too tired already. He did his best. He felt insecure and afraid to see himself growing thinner as the days went by. No matter how hard he tried to act calm before us, his physique had already given him away. He couldn’t sleep, just because he would not be able to breathe if he lay down so he could only spend his nights walking to and fro. He couldn’t eat, because the cancer cells had caused a blockage to his esophagus and no food could enter – and at last, he could not even drink. I gave up everything and went home to stay by his side, to accompany him and to watch him; but all of it was hopeless. He tried his best to prove he was still healthy and that he could still go to Beijing and watch me play in the Olympics. He didn’t need me to worry about him. He didn’t want me to give up 20 years of my hard work. But how could I possibly leave him? How could I not worry and concentrate on my career? Many times I have asked myself what should I do and what the right thing to do is. I am a human, an ordinary human, a normal human, a simple person. It is fine for me to not get flowers, applause, status and glory; but it is very wrong for me to be emotionless, it is wrong for me to be unable to know what’s right or wrong. It is uncommon for us to not make mistakes in our lives but we can hope that we don’t have regrets. It is most important to be filial. I will feel better if I do so. I was with him through his last days. He did everything to raise me, and finally having me by his side in his last days, I guess he was able to leave peacefully. Dad did not enjoy life in comfort and happiness when he was around but his most treasured daughter was willing to give up everything and come back to his bedside and accompany him through his remaining days. Perhaps it was my filialness that touched God; He took all of dad’s pains. Even the doctor said it was an extremely rare chance, but dad left peacefully. He left by organ failure but not in pain. This could have been Dad’s luckiest experience. He was still very cheerful the night before he passed away. He was laughing heartily while watching television that night. It was about 11 at night when he started to feel uncomfortable. The doctor informed us that he was in critical condition. We couldn’t recall the number of times we’d received such information from the hospital. I still trusted that dad would be fine. However, Mum felt her heart burning when we were on our way to the hospital. She said this was an ill omen. When we were halfway there, Mum insisted that we go home to get something. Our mobile phone kept ringing reluctantly at that moment. I started to feel insecure. I had a feeling this wouldn’t be a peaceful night. It was 1:03am when we arrived at the hospital. Dad was surrounded by equipment and the doctors and nurses were running to and fro in a great hurry. I stared dumbly at all that was happening. I was at a loss, shocked by all this. He knew that Mum and I were there but he couldn’t speak. When Mum rushed forward and grabbed Dad’s hand, tears started to run from his eyes. I could see clearly the two rows of tears running from his eyes. When the monitor showed that dad was getting weaker, I couldn’t bear it any longer. I knelt down by his bedside and begged him to hang on and not leave us. I saw the monitor showing that dad was leaving slowly. I shouted, “Daddy! Daddy!! Don’t sleep! Daddy, don’t sleep!” Perhaps Dad heard me shouting. His heart started to beat again. However, about half a minute later, Dad left… There was no miracle to be seen. Dad is gone; is he really gone? I grabbed the doctor closely and begged him to save Dad but he said there was nothing he could do anymore and asked me to calm down. I can’t believe that he just left us like this! I walked towards Dad and shook his shoulder with all my might saying, “Wake up! Wake up! Daddy, quickly wake up! Daddy, wake up please!............” Mum came ahead and hugged me. She said, “Girl, Daddy is gone. Your daddy has gone. Don’t be like this, you will hurt Daddy. Be a good girl and listen to me. Daddy likes cleanliness. Let’s help daddy change his clothes and let him go peacefully!” Mum withdrew the blanket on dad, I will never forget what I saw… Dad’s frame was nothing more than just bones. His ribs were clearly visible even with a layer of clothes still covering his body. I did not expect this. Until then, I only knew that it wasn’t easy for Dad to live from day to day. Perhaps he was really too tired, which made ending it a relief to him. It was after we helped Dad to put on a shroud when I realized that the thing mum insisted on going home to get was the shroud. 30 years of marriage has given Mum that kind of instinct that Dad might not be able to get through that night. The people from the funeral parlor came to take Dad. I followed them to the funeral home in Zhuzhou City. That was my first time going to a funeral home and I never expected that I would be sending Dad off. It was almost dawn by the time we settled dad in the biggest longevity palace. On the 4th of December, 2007, Huang Chuanbiao's life ended at the age of fifty-six. From then on, I don’t have a dad anymore and Mum no longer has a husband. We have lost him permanently. I know Dad will always live in our souls. He has gone to heaven and he is watching us. I love you forever, my daddy! I will take care of Mum for you. I will take care of this home. You may leave freely!
