Xiao to quit national team

Xiao to quit national team

Confidence hit due to injury and poor form, but she says she will return here

By Peh Shing Huei
Straits Times

THREE months after winning a South-east Asia Games gold medal, Xiao Luxi will quit the Singapore national badminton team.

The shuttler's contract with the Singapore Badminton Association will expire at the end of the month, and she has decided not to stay on.

But the break may not be permanent.

Said the 21-year-old: 'I really need to do something other than badminton now. I've been carrying an injury, my form has not been good and my confidence has suffered badly.

'I want some time off to think about my future, my path.'

She will spend some time with her parents in Fujian Province, China, but the lanky, 1.78-metre tall lass stressed that she is coming back here.

'I'm a Singaporean, and proud to be one. So I will definitely be back,' she said, 'but I really don't know if I will rejoin the national team. I may consider coaching, studying or just do other things.'

Sources told Timesport she has been having problems with the national coaches, but she declined to comment.

In 1997, she came from China as a 14-year-old and, together with Li Li, Liu Fan and Rong Muxi, were Singapore badminton's pioneer batch of foreign talent.

Rong went back to China four years ago, while the remaining trio all became Singapore citizens.

Li Li, 20, received her papers in 2002, while Xiao and Liu Fan, 19, took up Singapore passports last year.

Xiao was the first of the trio to make a mark internationally, partnering Liu Zhen to victory at the 2001 Hong Kong Open.

That was Singapore's first win on the Grand Prix circuit, and the duo once climbed as high as 11th in the world.

But, with Li Li obtaining citizenship the next year and surprising all and sundry by winning the Manchester Commonwealth Games title, the petite girl became Singapore's badminton darling.

Said SBA executive director Jacqueline Lim: 'Xiao was looking forward to the Commonwealth Games and, when she didn't get the citizenship, she was bitterly disappointed.

'And, when she finally could represent Singapore in a major meet during last December's SEA Games, she suffered an elbow injury and poor form.

'She's still recovering from the confidence blow.'

Though Xiao was part of the winning team in Ho Chi Minh City, she lost both her matches in the final against Thailand. She was then pulled out of the singles event, giving way to Jiang Yanmei.

Said Xiao: 'It was nice to have won the SEA Games gold. But that's a team effort, not individual.'

Her best result in singles was third at the 2002 Asian Badminton Championships, when she scalped China's then-world No 20 Hu Ting.

Said Lim: 'We will welcome her back anytime. She's still the only Singapore women shuttler who has beaten a Chinese.'