Badminton Doubles Player: Fu Haifeng, World Champion!

Fu and longtime doubles partner Cai Yun are currently men's doubles world champions, following their win in the BWF World Championships 2009 against Jung Jae-sung and Lee Yong-dae of Korea.

This win has been described as "a classic that will be often recalled as one of the best men's doubles matches in the recent history of the sport.", and is their second World Championship win (their first being Madrid 2006). See the tense match finale here.

As a pairing, Fu and Cai are currently ranked 6th in the world. They have been one of the best performing doubles pairs in the world from about 2004, Fu's powerful left-handed smashes and attacking style combining perfectly with Cai's speed at the net. They've competed in the Olympics in 2004 and 2008, winning silver in the latter; won the prestigious All-England Championships in 2005 and 2009, and the BWF World Championships in 2006 and 2009.

I first saw Fu and Cai in the 2008 Olympics, but watching them live at the Yonex All England earlier this year was even better - they were completely unbeatable. I particularly remember them destroying a very strong Danish pair, Boe and Mogensen, in the semis. They've had a very successful year as they also won the World Championships.

I have tickets for the 2010 All England in March so looking forward to seeing them destroying their opposition once again. Though it'd be even better to see them beaten by a British pair - but I think Robertson and Clark would have their work cut out!

Sports career:
1996 - Badminton player, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Sports Technique
1998 - Guangdong Provincial Team
2002 - Joined national team
2007 - March 15 Attained highest world ranking 1

Height: 1.80 m
Weight: 70 kg
Current coach: Chen Xingdong, He Xiangyang
Racket: Yonex Ti 10
Shoes: Yonex SHB-99

Current world doubles ranking:6th
(from Badminton World Federation)

See World Badminton Sport for a list of his major tournament wins, and Badminton World Federation for a comprehensive list of hits tournament results.

Sources:

• Friendster
• Wikipedia
• Badzine.info 1 and 2

(photo from Zimbio)

Born: January 2, 1984 in Jieyang, Guangdong Province, China

Early career
Fu had a relatively smooth road to professional badminton - at the age of 7 he enrolled in Guangzhou's sports school, and joined the Guandong provincial team in 1999.

From his time in the Guangdong province team, Fu became known as, "Ah Bo" (Treasure), due to a combination of his shy and reserved nature and his babyface good-looks!

Fu started as career as a singles player, but switched to doubles in 2002, as his Guangdong team were short of a doubles player for a national championship. Following just a few months training, he and his partner won silver...which gained him attention and a place on the national team.

Although elated by his selection, Fu was intimidated by the superb physical condition of the team and the sheer amount of training they undertook. Because of this it took him some time to build up his self-confidence.

It wasn't until Tang Xin Fu took over the MD training that Fu's offensive power and delicate netshots were noticed. Tang paired him up with Cai Yun and history was made. The pair made it to the quarter-finals, a feat that Chinese men's doubles had not managed for some time. In 2004 they won their first title at the Swiss Open.

One of Tang's coaching methods was for all players to keep a training diary. Fu often complained about this method, believing at the time that it did not help his game - but later on realised that the reflection involved in this activity was helping him make better decisions in the heat of fast rallies.

Computer addict
Aside from training, Fu's favourite hobby is play computer games, as a result, he and "comrade" Bao Chunlai are good friends. During the 2005 All England, he was caught playing computer games at midnight by his coach, who later confiscated his laptop.

He also claims that the lack of a girlfriend has something to do with it too, "if I spend time with my girlfriend, then I won't have time to play computer games anymore."

But it seems that Fu is a bit of a dark horse....look what came out in the news as I was writing this...

Recent news
Less than a week ago it was revealed on tv by coach Li Yongbo that Fu Haifeng is the father of an 18 month old child, named Fu Zi Yu.

Fans and media immediately started comparing the Chinese shuttler to Andy Lau, the famous Hong Kong pop singer, who announced his wedding to Carole Chu more than a year after it was celebrated.

Because of his parenthood, Fu is being allowed to return home every night, unlike the rest of his teammates

So (belated) congratulations to Fu! It must be a challenge to be a father and professional sportsman at the same time in any country, but I suspect it may be harder in China than in western countries - China expects complete dedication from its sportsmen and women.

Good luck to him in his career and his fatherhood!

Sources:

• Friendster
• LoonSport.Net
• Badzine.info 1, 2 and 3
• Badminton Central discussion forum

(photo from Zimbio)