Why don't we see more/any interracial badminton pairs?

Discussion in 'General Forum' started by Loafers, Mar 14, 2012.

  1. Loafers

    Loafers Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2008
    Messages:
    127
    Likes Received:
    2
    Occupation:
    Loafer
    Location:
    USA
    Logistics? Language barrier? Convenience? Ethnocentrism?

    That may be so, but in tennis it isn't uncommon. So why is the situation in badminton drastically different?

    Discuss.
     
  2. demolidor

    demolidor Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2003
    Messages:
    5,507
    Likes Received:
    127
    Location:
    @Hollanti
    You probably mean from different countries, not races, but one simple reason is you can't enter the Olympics as a pair with different nationalities.
     
  3. Mark A

    Mark A Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2005
    Messages:
    7,170
    Likes Received:
    695
    Location:
    St Helens, UK
    The Olver/Agathangelou pair are different enthicities from the same country, and Hendra Setiawan used to play with a Russian girl whose name escapes me (could be Russkikh). Gill Clark mentioned during AE commentary last week that she once played with a Korean in XD when her usual partner had to drop out:D.
     
  4. yeoldeman

    yeoldeman Regular Member

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2007
    Messages:
    33
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    NHS
    Location:
    UK/KL
    As I see it there are already a few mixed ethnic pairs about. I can think of Canada's Michelle Li/Alex Bruce and Derrick Ng/Alex Bruce. How about the USA's Eva Lee/Obanana? Obanana was originally from the Philippines. As for Tony Gunawan and Howard Bach, Tony is a Chinese initially of Indonesian nationality who's now a US citizen, while Howard was born of Vietnamese parentage and later became a US citizen too. Malaysia had up until last year a MD pairing of Zakry Latif (a Malay) and Hoon Thien How (a Malaysian Chinese). Singapore has imported and given PRs/citizenships to foreign players who now play for the national team eg. XD pairing of Lei Yao (born in China) and Chayut (sounds Thai to me), and the WD pairing of Lei Yao and Shinta (former Indonesian player).
     
  5. kwun

    kwun Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2002
    Messages:
    41,044
    Likes Received:
    2,066
    Occupation:
    BC Janitor
    Location:
    Santa Clara, CA, USA
    i think the major factor is racial demographics.

    in countries like China, it is already hard enough to find a non-Chinese, not to say one that is badminton player and good enough to play internationally. similarly is the case for European countries, like Denmark, UK, and most Asian countries like Japan, Korea, Taiwan. the majority of the population of one racial background.

    in other countries with a more mixed racial demographic, like US, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, the chances of that happening is more likely.
     
  6. Granum

    Granum Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    81
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    .
    I think Howard Bach might be Chinese born in Vietnam..
     
  7. venkatesh

    venkatesh Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2008
    Messages:
    1,108
    Likes Received:
    2
    Occupation:
    editor
    Location:
    manila
    Yes. Anastasia Russkikh partnered Hendra Setiawan.
     
  8. KillerQT

    KillerQT Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2005
    Messages:
    90
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Singapore
    I don't like the word "interracial"... :D
     
  9. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2002
    Messages:
    23,818
    Likes Received:
    4,791
    Occupation:
    wannabe badminton phototaker
    Location:
    Outside the box
    Was that the true intention of the OP?

    i.e. Same country but different ethnic groups...
     
  10. Loafers

    Loafers Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2008
    Messages:
    127
    Likes Received:
    2
    Occupation:
    Loafer
    Location:
    USA
    Yeah... my wording wasn't too great, but I think you guys get the idea that I meant nationality/ethnicity.
     
  11. demolidor

    demolidor Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2003
    Messages:
    5,507
    Likes Received:
    127
    Location:
    @Hollanti
    Isn't that still two different things?? :D, so still unclear what you meant ...
     
  12. tobradex

    tobradex Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2005
    Messages:
    102
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    IT industry
    Location:
    Markham, Ont
    I would hazard a guess that you don't see mixed nationality teams at an international level since most teams are playing for a particular nation and thus, usually hail from there. :)
     

Share This Page