. Liem Swie King: Biography and Movie Just found an article published in the news about Liem Swie King. Liem Swie King, after 15 years of winning for Indonesia, finally decided to retire at the age of 32 (in 1988). Today, Liem Swie King finds his biography published and a movie about him opened in cinemas. Liem Swie King won All-England 3 times. And for 33 months starting in 1978, he was undefeated. His legendary jumping smash technique has been copied by many shuttlers around the world. For the article - Liem Swie King: The Return of A King (from The Jakarta Post): click here .
it's alway enjoyable reading about the personal side of great players, whether they have a book or movie or not. Here is the King Smash. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94p10aoMNiA
Wish that this movie could be shown in Melbourne, Australia . Hi Liz, It is quite certain that this Liem Swie King movie would be showing in Malaysia; since Malaysians are as crazy about Badminton as Indonesians. Only wish that this movie could be shown in Melbourne, Australia, as well. .
Nice! Is this the first (commercial) badminton movie that ever produced?? I would like to watch too. English sub????
Yes, if it is showed in Canada, there will be English subtitles. In Malaysia? Malay & Chinese subtitles perhaps... I wonder how Indonesian film be translated in Malay I.e: Saya mau pergi ke rumah sakit (Bahasa) Saye nak pigi hospital (Malay) I.e: Rumah sakit bersalin (Bahasa) Hospital korban lelaki (Malay) )
rumah sakit korban ina:rumah sakit bersalin mas:hospital bersalin NOT korban....thats word means death...Anyway non aplicable for this instance
That's quite an accomplishment in a time when there were so many class players. However, the greatest record to for longest undefeated streak probably belongs to the Chinese doubles pairing of Ge Fei and Gu Jun. Between their 2 Olympic gold medals, they were undefeated in all competitions ! Thats more than 48 months!
History fact, probably it's true. But, the player like Liem Swie King is more legendary and "classic" comparing with Ge Fei & Gu Jun. Probably, beyond Mainland China not too much people know Ge Fei & Gu Jun. Honestly, if you don't mention their names, I'll probably have forgotten them. From Mainland China, I still remember players like Tang Xianhu, Han Jian, Luan Jin, Xiong Guobao, Zhao Jianhua, Yang Yang, Li Yongbo, Li Lingwei, Han Aiping even Huang Hua (she is Indonesian now), Ye Zhaoying, etc...
Tang Xianhu is still the best . For me, Tang Xianhu is still the best (in terms of contributing back to Badminton). Heard that he is the main reason for Lin Dan to become the best player in the world today. .
Thats so very true. One of the main reasons China badminton got to such dizzying heights can be attributed to him and a few south-east asian born chinese players going "back" to China to represent them in the 60's - early 70's. And consequently impart skills and training structure and developing it into what we see as the chinese juggernaut today. Tang Xianhu was the Chinese national coach, Indonesian national coach, Chinese men's singles coach, then doubles coach after his retirement as competitive player. He is still held in extremely high regard by the players even today. No small feat considering how long ago was his prime. Together with Hou Jiachang, they were considered the best of their time, surpassing even Rudy Hartono and Liem Swie King. Incidentally, if I remember (read) correctly Hou JiaChang defeated Liem Swie King in the finals of the 1976 Asian Cup finals in straight sets. Setting off a slew of speculations on who was the 'best' if Tang XianHu and Hou Jiachang were let loose on the international circuit. (The Chinese did not compete in international tournaments until very, very late.. )
Yes, it was because the Mainland Chinese players competed in WBF event, while others competed in IBF. 1982 was the first for Mainland Chinese players to compete in Thomas Cup and they won it beating Indonesia. BTW, I think if Indonesia was not so racist at that time, Tang & Hou would be playing for Indonesia instead of Mainland China. There were rumours at that time that Rudy Hartono was afraid to face either Tang or Hou because he didn't want to be beaten by both players. Honestly speaking, Rudy Hartono was the best player in that era in IBF events. His competitors were Svend Pri & Punch Gunalan and even young Swie King. Anyway, Iie Sumirat managed to beat both players (if I'm not mistaken).
Even Tang Xianhu admitted that the King's smashes were most powerful . Yes, you are correct. I had the pleasure to meet Tang Xianhu when he was invited by our Australian Badminton Coaches Association (where I was one of the qualified coaches there) back in around 1980. He visited Australia with Hou Jiachang because Australia was one of the first nations trying to help China to be included in our IBF's tournaments. Tang Xianhu gave us coaches a few tips and gave us a Mens Singles 'Exhibition Match' against our Australian No.1 player, Mark Harry. Tang showed us his exceptional skills by defeating Harry, something like 15-5, 15-5. It was a delightful match to watch. Tang's smashes and court-skills were just too much for Harry. The match was held at our Sydney University Gym. Hope that some of our Australian Coaches/BCers who were there, could comment more on this. Anyway, let's return to Liem Swie King since this thread talks about him. Even Tang Xianhu admitted that the King's smashes were of the greatest power in the 1980's. Yes, he told me so. Cheers... chris-ccc .
When I saw the premier ..it is with subtitles.....KING was there with his wife plus some of INA players too...Susi and Alan were there....
