Thai Triumph
Traditionally, Asian countries and particularly China, stand out at the World University Badminton Championships. This time, the Thai team led the edition brilliantly
Generally speaking, badminton is a very popular sport in the student community. It is fun and needs very little infrastructure – a combination that makes it a very modern sport that is easy to set up on campuses. Traditionally, Asian countries are outstanding in the World University Badminton Championships. Since the first edition in Cyprus in 1990, this has always been the case. And it was true again at the 2002 edition held in Poland in Krakow – the Chinese and China Taipei teams stood head and shoulders over the others in the 7th Badminton WUC.
In 2004, the Thai University Sports Association (USBT) organised the competition. It took charge of the beachvolley and golf championships as well, so this was a busy year for the USBT, that also served as a practice run before the Universiade that will take place in Bangkok in 2007, as we all know. Kasetsart University, more specifically, hosted the event. It was founded in 1953 and specialises in agronomic sciences. This is one of the largest universities in Bangkok with very modern sports infrastructures and solid experience in organising international sports events. As is traditional for FISU Championships, a cultural programme was set up for the participants who did not miss the opportunity to get a taste of Thai hospitality.
Busy Timetable
With two days to play the preliminary matches (the weekend was reserved for semifinals and finals), the timetable was very full. In fact, on the opening day, some games went on until 2 a.m.! It is true that there was a long interruption for the Opening Ceremony protocol. The President of the Thai University Sports Association gave the welcoming address, a message of friendship and peace encouraging University athletes to show fair play and to share their experience by accepting and respecting the differences of all.
He also thanked the Minister of Education for being present and underlined the importance of governmental support for the development of universities sports on a national scale. Traditional dances from various parts of Thailand were then presented to the 20 participating dedications.
Better and Better
According to Roger Johansson, the FISU technical delegate for badminton, student athletes have been getting better and better in recent years. Clearly more and more student athletes compete in other international meets. Although certain countries were absent from this Thai edition, perhaps because of the cost of the trip, the great badminton nations were represented: Korea, Japan, China, China Taipei and of course Thailand.
Generally speaking, spirit of the event was very good and it was organized conscientiously. The Kasetsart University staff did a great job with the help of the Thai Badminton Federation. The finals played to a full house that came to cheer the local athletes present in all five categories.
Finals
The first event of the day, the double mixed final was a close 3-sets battle that finally went to the talented Thai couple Voravichitchaikul/Prapakamol 11-15, 15-9 and 15-10. In the ladies final, Soratja Chansrisukot (THA) was not so lucky. Despite the encouragement of a large fan club (Soratja studies at Kasestsart University). There was not much she could do to counter the dexterity of Cheng Shao-Chieh (TPE), who took victory in three sets for Taiwan.
The men’s final opposed Thai Ponsana Boonsak to Chinese Hu Yun. The technical mastery of both players was a pleasure to watch. They really battled it out for the first set. The suspense peaked at 16-16, as both players lined up the game points. Finally, Hu Yun took the first set, but it cost him much of his strength, so Ponsana Boonsak had an easier time afterwards taking the following two sets for the gold medal.
Once set each for the ladies double, with Voravichitchaikul & Jangrajangwong from Thailand against Zou & Li from China, and the teams were on an equal footing. The third, very close set was decisive, finally giving the Chinese team the advantage by a score of 15 to 12. Although, on several occasions, the Chinese team Whang/Zhang made a comeback, like from 4-13 to 10-13 in the second set, for example, it was not up to the regularity of Prapakamol/Ngensrisuk, who took the men’s double in two sets. Rendez-vous for the next World University Badminton Championship in Wuhan, China in 2006 and at the Bangkok Universiade in 2007.