. Greetings, All The Best to our Australian Badminton Team @ Beijing 2008 !!! Just yesterday, Monday 23-Jun-2008, our Australian player, Eugenia Tanaka, told me that she has been training hard for Australia's first medal in the Beijing Olympics Games in August. Then I found this article. ====== * ====== start article ====== * ====== Badminton squad realistic on Beijing medal chances By Olympics reporter Karen Barlow Posted Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:26pm AEST Updated Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:45pm AEST Burgeoning profile... Badminton is now one of Asia's most popular sports. (Getty Images: Bryn Lennon) In Victorian times, it was a genteel game for ladies. Now badminton is one of the most popular sports in Asia. It is the world's fastest racquet game and its champions are treated like rock stars by their fans. Australia is having a crack at its first ever badminton medal when it sends a team to the Beijing Olympics Games in August. At their training camp in Melbourne, things are deceptively quiet, though the goose feathers which make up the best shuttlecocks are flying. When they are struck the shuttlecocks first rocket, then quickly slow. First time Olympian Tania Luiz explains how they work. "The shuttle is constantly spinning. The way the shuttle is made it spins in one way and depending on the conditions of the hall you are playing in you can have winds or air conditioning or whatever that's making the shuttle float or go faster at certain heights or slower," Luiz said. "I think the fastest we have clocked a shuttle is about 332 kilometres an hour. So say good bye to Andy Roddick, it is all badminton," she said. As for Luiz's speed, she can only estimate. "I have never actually done the tests so I'd say I'd be over 250 kilometres an hour," she said. The quiet of training is broken only by squeaky shoes on the floor and the whiz and whack of the racquets hitting the shuttles. But Luiz says competition will be a very different affair in China, where badminton is one of the top sports. "It is everything," she said. "They are gods over there pretty much. It is just huge. "It is bigger than anything I have seen in here, especially because it is indoors as well. It is just so compact. "The atmosphere is right there and of course you are right near the crowds, you feel everything - you feel vibration from the crowd while you are playing, you really do." Fledgling event Badminton has only been a Olympic sport since the 1992 Barcelona Games. It is physically demanding so there is intense training in the lead-up to the Games. Doubles player Eugenia Tanaka says, like any elite sport, it curbs the players' social lives. "We are training every day, twice a day. We have to eat healthy and run to keep our fitness," she said. "When you study and play at the same time it is really hard. We have to make sacrifices." As well as the team from host country China, the teams to beat are Malaysia and Indonesia. Head coach Ricky Yu says the young Australian team will have a difficult road ahead and that this time around, it is a learning experience. "We are looking for the future. I think it is very good for them," he said. Luiz is also realistic about the chances for Australia's first medal in badminton. "It is going to be tough for us. There are 16 pairs in the doubles and we are still fairly young, the whole team that have been chosen to go over," she said. "I think it is definitely just the most remarkable experience for us to get there, going into where we hope to make a big difference, which is the next Games." ====== * ====== end article ====== * ====== And Tania Luiz is also being realistic about the chances for our Australia's first medal in Olympics Badminton. For the link: click here . Cheers... chris@ccc .
i know ricky yu (chinese name: Qi Yu)...he is a very nice coach and he used to play for china during the 90's
Eugenia Tanaka was not asked to come from Indonesia to play for Australia . Dimplex... Thank you for answering Dato Asbullah's question. Dato Asbullah... No, Eugenia Tanaka was not asked to come from Indonesia to play for Australia. She arrived at Melbourne when she was very young, some 6 years ago to study in Melbourne in a lower secondary high school. When I met Eugenia back in 2003, she came to our CCC Badminton Club with her father. Her whole family loves Badminton. Cheers... chris-ccc .
Chris, you need to get 'a' LCW into Australia - offer citizenship, scholarships for universities. Then Oz will get somewhere with badminton.
What Chris sais that is, Eugene Tanaka is not bought over by the Australia Badminton Association. Not like SBA bought over Ronaldo Susilo. Different case.
We r waiting for the 1st Australian to achieve success in badminton world. i.e win the SS or major tournament.
haha... this Dato always after "someone's" tail... haha... aiya... Dato, no worry lah... this susie-Lo got no time to train now coz he has found his new "partner" to replace the table tennis sweetie... haha... http://www.asiaone.com/Just+Woman/News/Celebrities/Story/A1Story20080707-75007.html
Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie. The badminton team may not get anywhere but the Ozzie swimming team will be awesome. Go Ozzie.
Doubles pair, Tania Luiz and Eugenia Tanaka, is ranked 48th (as at 3-Jul-2008) . X Ball... Yes, we are proud of our exalting Ozzie Swimming Team and we hope that they will get many medals from the Beijing Olympics 2008. Our Australian Womens Badminton Doubles pair, Tania Luiz and Eugenia Tanaka, is only ranked 48th in the BWF World Ranking (as at 3-Jul-2008). So we must be realistic about their chances for a medal . .
6 Australians participating in Badminton at Beijing 2008 . We will have 6 Australians participating in Badminton at Beijing 2008, namely; (1) Erin Carroll (2) Tania Luiz (3) Eugenia Tanaka (4) Stuart Gomez (5) Ross Smith (6) Glenn Warfe All The Best to them @ Beijing 2008 !!! .
