now that the WC is over for a week, it is time to give some post WC thoughts. the biggest surprise of the even is of course the rise of Gunawan and Bach to the World Champion crown. let's for now put all the conspiracy argument aside, and instead wonder if they really improved leaps and bound, or did they just sprung a "Hafiz" and will sink back to their normal level? the reality of it, only time will tell us. they will have to prove to the world that they indeed deserve their win by winning at least one or two major tournaments in the next half a year. but nothing should stop us badminton fan from predicting how they will perform...
I think they will win more big tournaments. They beat some of the best pairs in the WC, so they obviously have what it takes. And one should not under-estimate the psychological factor: next time they have Fu/Cai (or whoever) across the net, the opponents will be staring at the World Champions. But competition is fierce of course. At the present there are so many pairs at the top that have the potential to win big tournaments. No single pair stands out. But one or two major tournaments, plus a few smaller should certainly be within grasp for Tony and Howard this season.
From i learned this might be the last tournament that they will play together as double partner. Because after this big win for them, esp for Howard, Tony hopes HOward will be mentally ready to face the challenge of the world double scene. So the next big picture is to prepare for Howard & Bob Malaythong for the Beijing Olympic since Tony will not be able to play ( He will not be US CItizen yet then ). And as for his own plan, Tony is considering playing with Halim in the Grand Prix, or any star events where they could win some money for themselves.
No because they're not going to be partnering together anymore. Tony is gonna play with Halim to win some money in Open tournaments and Howard is going to play with Bob, like har said. Unless they chang their plans...
Looking forward to hear: "on my right, Tony Gunawan and Halim Heryanto, of Indonesia, (sorry, of USA)" soon. I sincerely hope to see a lot of rematches for those opens and championships in 2001. That must be fun. -S.C.
my guess is that howard wouldn't mind of tony pairing up with halim. He had achieved his personal goal and he continue like to see badminton gaining popularity in the US. Now the US should have 2 formidable MD teams.
I wish them good luck in the future in any major tournaments but I do have doubt that they will win something big like WC again. Tony is getting older not younger while Howard is not very experience player in major tournaments. Thus I think of them winning WC MD is of good fortune and of course they definitly have the skills but many more games must be player before we can determine how solid they really are.
If Howard continues to shine and prove to be really a revelation..... then i will call him the wayne rooney of badminton
a 'little birdie' told me howard may only play a couple more tournaments, then concentrate on school/college. unfortunately one can't make a living playing badminton in the usa. but what a way to go out! whooooaaaAAA...YA!!
Personally i think when US pair has won the WC. They have already set the momentum for US badminton. US has to keep winning to attract more people to play and watch the game in US/Canada. More works has to be done to promote the game there.. use the publicity to the fullest.If not it can be just another short lived hype.
I don't think the US pair winning was as big a shock as a lot of people make out. I saw them lose to WIjaya/SIgit at AE 2005 in 2 very close ends, looking at their other tournaments since they had 3 qtr final losses, two in 3 tight ends to top 5 pairs. Given the competitiveness of the md scene any top 15 pair can beat any other, especially with home advantage. If they continue to play together they could be a solid top ten pair although now they are world champs every other pair will be even more motivated to beat them. So they would have as much chance in the next event as any other top ten pair, if they retain motivation. I'm more surprised at how well Wijaya/Sigit have done this year, they looked to be on the way out a couple of years ago and it seemed the younger chinese /indo pairs would take over but they are still going.
The problem is that the badminton is too localized. I am pessimistic about the long run. I can name another sports as an example, Volleyball. Team USA won the gold medals in '84 and '88 olympics and it kinda made the sports popular for a while. But the majority of volleyball population is from California. Looking at the roster of the national team, you might find more than 70% of them are Californians. Badminton falls into a very similar situation like volleyball and the even worse thing is that badminton is not even a high school varsity sports (while volleyball is). I don't mean to say it is hopeless but a lot of work would be needed. While most Americans still think badminton as a sissy thing, how to educate the audience and find the sponsors to support the promotion are the top two things that should be done. These might decide how far badminton could go in Northern America. -S.C.
Disclaimer: I'm fairly new to the sport so my opinions should be not be taken all that seriously... That said, assuming this pair remains together as partners, I see no reason why they can't keep winning. Gunawan may be getting older, as one person mentioned, but so is his competition. Bach may be inexperienced, but he's getting that experience right now. And the WC was no walk-over - they rose to the occasion and won; nobody handed the win to them on a silver platter. They seem to complement each other well on the court. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but if badminton is to catch on here in the US, we Americans need our heroes. Don't shoot them down yet, please!
Badminton is a CIF Southern Section Sport Badminton is already a CIF SS endorsed sports. Yes true we need lots of existing badminton fans to come out and support the sports in general. We need ex-players to contribute their time to do HS coach Volunteers; we need all the ex players to come participate the local tournaments for the sake of badminton...... it is not just about winning ..........
Badminton has been part of CIF for Decades!! We're just really not penetrating the mainstream of US demography... There's no way that people are going to shake the image of backyard badminton off their heads if they're not exposed to the competitive badminton. And given that we have no money to pay ESPN and ask them to broadcast some of the tournaments (it's not like football or basketball where they will be more than willing to broadcast these games due to the immense viewers' interest), the idea of making badminton a popular, let alone mainstream, sport in the US sounds really really far fetched. You can't make more money if you don't let it circulate. You can't win more supporters if the sport itself isn't exposed to new people. Any events, such as tourneys, to strengthen the already-existing badminton community is like throwing rocks into a pond. If you throw enough of them in, eventually the water level may rise; however, you are NOT getting any more water than you previously had.
Gunawan/Bach, gunawan is good, whereas Bach is damn proud and action fellow. I doubt his proud action will bring USA a win again.