Sabah club bring home 3 gold
Sabah Beverly Hills Club bagged three gold medals at the 25th World Chinese Badminton Federa on Championships held in Chengdu, China on November 1 to 4.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Beverly Hills Club bagged three gold medals at the 25th World Chinese Badminton Federation Championships held in Chengdu, China on November 1 to 4.
Zaini Garip won the men’s singles 65-69 years group before going on to win another gold medal in the doubles 65-69 years group with partner Datuk Anthony Linggian. The other gold medal came from Lee Sui Min and Michele Chong in the mixed doubles (45-49 years).
Lee/Michele defeated a duo from Hunan China, Cai Yang Hong/Hen Guang Feng 31-19, while Zaini beat Chengdu’s professional coach Deng Guang Min, 31-15.
Later, Zaini and Anthony beat a duo from Hua Yu Schuan, Ai Zheng Qiang/Li Ming Ah, 31-30.
In a media statement yesterday, Anthony said the three gold medals haul was a proud achievement for the Sabah Beverly Hills Club, adding that it was their resilience and strong fighting spirit which allowed them to achieve victory against some very tough opponents.
The 25th World Chinese Badminton Federation Championships was held at the Sichuan Shuangliu National Badminton Hall which featured an incredible 88 courts.
The championships, which contested 102 categories, attracted more than 4,600 players from 17 countries and more than 7,000 entries overall.
A total of 20 players represented the Sabah Beverly Hills Club.
Meanwhile, Zaini did well to fend off strong challenges in the singles where he staged an incredible comeback.
According to Anthony, it took Zaini a while to find his rhythm before eventually dominating the match.
Their triumph in the doubles (6569 years) was an unexpected one especially after facing formidable opponents from Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan and China.
“At one point we were trailing 3-9. Later it went to 9-16 and 20-24, but we refused to admit defeat. We continued to fight and managed to win eight points to lead 28-24.
“The strong home crowd support allowed our opponent to regain the lead (29-30) but we managed to stem the tide before eventually getting the win,” he said.
The three gold medals won equalled their haul at the Taiwan Morning Cup Championship which was held earlier in April, Anthony pointed out.
“We hope that one of our players can continue to win gold for 10 consecutive years. There is a million-dollar Mercedes Benz car offered in the Taiwan Badminton Morning Cup for any player who wins 10 gold medals consecutively,” he said.
There is high potential for Zaini to win it in the singles category as he had set sights on winning more gold medals in future editions of the championship, Anthony added.