Yeah, I can't believe this thread has been dead since 2017 (like don't people take photos with players anymore?). Good of you to revive it. My most recent photo was with Goh Jin Wei, the rising ws hotshot of Malaysia. Sent from my EML-L29 using Tapatalk
Better if it gets sticky. Am I asking too much @Cheung ? So many hidden threads here which can be very cheerful to read. I really enjoyed reading the stories here in this thread.
i'm surprised i never noticed this thread back in 2014... anyhow, i've met countless players dating back from the mid 80's to present... from the bottom of the rankings to the top. but i've never been a picture seeker. to me it's a very impersonal act/request/intrusion to make of any athlete/celebrity. asking someone for something that is purely for me feels strange. after i started to get into the administration side, then eventually directing, of tournaments in 1999 obviously the #'s grew exponentially and it has lead to long existential conversations w/ players, meals w/ them, playing poker, playing tour guide sometimes. trade show acquaintances you could say. the thing the players will always remember me for is the cash or check i hand them after they win, without a picture. heh.
29th April, about 10am at the park in Hillcrest, near Eventfinda stadium (NZ). Wife hollered a lone jogger to help take a few photos of us. Really nice guy. 1st May 2019, noon and to our utter shock it was our damn photographer at court 2! Lee Hyun Il! Pls kill me ;_;
Carolina Marin pushed in front of me at the bread toasting machine in the hotel restaurant in Birmingham last week. Does that count ?
I've met Eric Pang and Yao Jie and also played some points with them. I've also met Zhang Nan. Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa, Zhang Beiwen.
Lai pei jing, lee meng yean, goh liu ying, and some other lesser know Malaysian female players. The only reason i try to meet (or stalk) them its because i like pretty badminton girls
Jwala Gutta officiated my quarterfinal in a district tournament. This was under 15's back in 1998 or 99. She came 15 mins late to the court and then shouted at us for starting the game late!. I lost the game for 2 reasons. 1: I was intemidated by her entry. 2: I was distracted and lost focus because a beautiful girl was umpiring!! Had I won, I would have met Kashyap in the semis who my training partner happened to defeat. Nothing to be proud of as we were 15 year olds and he was 13. Even a year makes a big difference in age group. I have also seen Gopichand practice with a cast when he injured his leg.
Badminton players I have met. I have met some pro badminton players when I have gone to watch pro tournaments. My first meeting was after the 2016 All England. Actually during the week I saw some players outside the stadium, me and Hendra Setiawan walked past each other, another day I saw Lee Sheng Mu. I also saw Bae Jeon Ju eating hamburgers one evening, she sat in a restaurant under the Barclaycard Arena (as it was named in 2016). It was some day after she had already lost to Carolina Marin so I guess she cannot be blamed for enjoying some hamburgers. Also, one fun thing was some random guy with a VIP-pass around his neck standing in line to enter the stadium chatting with some friends on Tuesday (the first day when qualification rounds were played). I overheard them and it seemed like he was going to play in the tournament. He seemed kind of confident in front of his friends if I recall correctly. Apparently, the guy was Ryan Jing Quek (an unknown English player) and I could later that day witness Jonatan Christie destroying him in qualifying round 1. Okay so what player did I meet in a way that is actually worth mentioning in this thread? At the airport after the tournament, I met Srikanth Kidambi. I took a photo with him and tried to have a chat in English but to no avail, he did not say much. On the plane to Frankfurt, he sat in the row in front of me. Another tournament I visited was the Vietnam open 2018, as I happened to be in Saigon the week the tournament was held there was no way I wasn’t going to go. There I met Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Choel. I took some photos with them. They had a guy who seemed to be their coach/sponsor (a Korean Apacs guy) who could speek English. They seemed nice and happy (they had just won the tournament). The most significant and big occasion where I met a bunch of players was the 2019 Basel world championships. Oh what a nice trip it was. 10 days in Basel of which 7 days where fully dedicated to watching badminton. The cafeteria in the St-Jakobshalle where lunch could be purchased (for a price yet surpassed by mankind) was a gold mine for meeting players. Lee Zi Jia (took a photo with him), Lee Cheuk Yiu, HS Prannoy, Zhang Ning with family, some other ex-players and coaches frequently visited the cafeteria to eat for the first 3 days of the tournament when it wasn’t super busy in the arena. Also took a photo with Nguyen Tien Minh. I also took a photo with Fajar Alfian and the most significant badminton photo for me: I edited myself out for privacy reasons Some other things that happened worth mentioning: After the finals were concluded on sunday me and my co-traveller(s) went out for dinner, we decided to go to a Thai restaurant. When we arrived outside the restaurant, I saw two guys I recognized standing outside the entrance smoking. They were from the Li-Ning stringing team. So, we went inside the restaurant and got seated next to the entrance/exit at the front. We ordered food and I asked the waitress to have ice for my soda, but she said the ice had run out because they had a big reservation from the china badminton team which were there eating more far inside the restaurant. I was of course curious after hearing that and pretended to go looking for the toilet hoping I could catch a glimpse of the CHN badminton team. The most far inside the restaurant there was a section that was a bit more secluded from the rest where they were sitting, I saw Zhang Jun through the open door leading there and the back of some others which I couldn’t see who they were. I decided against pretending to be stupid and walk in there asking where the toilet was, so I went back to my table and ate. While eating I observed some of the CHN coaching staff with Xia Xuanze being the only one I can mention by name going out of the restaurant to stand outside and smoke. A few minutes later Wang Yi Lyu also walked out and stood outside the restaurant apparently chatting with some of the others outside. I could see them through the window from my table. About 10 minutes later who I believe was the CHN team translator came to the desk to pay the bill, I overheard them and it was a bill for today’s meal and the last time that CHN team ate there also, In total more than 2000 CHF (!!). A few minutes later they began to leave, and I could see everyone of them as the walked past my table on the way out. Those I could recognize were: Li Jun Hui, Huang Dong Ping, Du Yue, Li Yin Hui, Zhang Jun, Huang Yuxiang (?), the Li-Ning stringing team guys (who apparently are connected to or directly working for the CHN national team) and some more coaches and staff. However, to my disappointment there was no Lin Dan or Chen Long, if so, I would probably have intercepted them and asked for a photo. In total I estimate them to have been between 15-20 people. On the day after the finals my journey back home began, the first leg was a flight departing from Basel airport. After arriving to the gate at the airport I saw P V Sindhu, she was dressed in normal clothes and stood up/walked around a little while talking on the phone in English. It sounded like she was giving an interview over the phone because she said that she was happy about winning and so on. Sitting next to the gate were also Kim Ji Hyun together with some older male IND important people connected to PVS, I recognized their faces but can not name them. Anyway, I waited until PVS had finished the phone call and asked for a selfie which she accepted. A bit later Gopichand and the male Korean coach who also works for India joined the others. I hope to meet and take photos with some other players in the future. Kento Momota and LCW are a shared number one on the wish list.
Surprisingly I met Thomas Laybourn on Zoom last night. I was attending the online launch of Shuttle Smash in my country, and Thomas is involved in creating the videos for it. I saw his name listed, and since I'm a member of Badminton Famly and post in his forum hoped I'd be put in the same room in a breakout session. In the second breakout sure enough he was there, so I introduced myself, telling him my user name and real name.
