I started playing badminton recently, and also play table tennis. I was very surprised attending an international competition when a pair of Filipino doubles players yelled out "Cho" after winning points. They weren't the only ones to do so. This is a common exclamation in table tennis, but I didn't realise anyone in badminton was saying it. Is this common?
Was this at the Sydney International? I saw many Filipinos playing in it! "Cho" means ball on its own but comes from "Hao Cho" meaning "Good Ball" originally from Chinese table tennis players. I haven't heard it much in other sports but if it does then I would imagine it's mostly from Chinese players. https://pingsunday.com/why-do-table-tennis-players-say-cho/
It was the Sydney International, and the first time I heard it was from Filipino players! I heard other Asians using it also, but can't remember which nationality.
Koo kien keat from Malaysia. Watch him. Always cho whenever they win a point or opponent makes a mistake.
The pinyin spelling of cho is actually qiu and it's very common for Chinese speaking players to say (though they would say hao qiu like baddiechen said, not just qiu. Just yelling qiu would be weird but you would be more likely to just hear the qiu part.) Wo Kao and Wo cao are also chinese words for "damn" or "F*%k" respectively. I hear pro players say when they are playing a competition in a non-Chinese speaking country. haha, they know the umpire doesn't understand them. And very common for amateur players to say as well. Maybe you heard that? Anyway, sounds like the Fillipino players were Chinese speaking Fillipionos which is pretty common. But "hao qiu" is very common for badminton players of all levels to say.
That reminds me of a time when a Polish player swore very loudly at the All England. Normally he would have gotten away with it but the Polish umpire understood him and gave a verbal warning in English for swearing in Polish . It did make me wonder what other players get away with live on the TV court