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U.S. Adult Badminton Championships
Olympians compete on campus,
win men’s doubles national title

Gregg Trusty
Adding a string of national and international competitions in little-publicized sports, LSUS played host in early June to the United States Adult Badminton Championships, which featured a men’s doubles team who will be members of the 2004 United States Olympic team in Athens in August.

Kevin Han, of Orange, Calif., who is a seven-time singles champion and was a member of the 1996 and 2000 U.S. Olympic Teams, and Howard Bach, of San Francisco, the reigning 2003 Pan American Games gold medalist, teamed to win the U.S. men’s doubles championship at LSUS. Bach was an alternate for the 2000 Olympic Team and commented at LSUS that he was relieved to make the team this year.

The national championships held at LSUS were a tune-up for the Olympic Games for Han and Bach. It was the first U.S. event in which they competed following 2004 Olympic qualifying.

In addition to winning the men’s doubles, Han and Bach finished second and third, respectively, behind Raju Rai, of Atlanta, in the men’s singles competition. Rai was also half of the mixed double champion team, winning with Eva Lee, and he was half of the men’s doubles runner-up team with Khankham Malaythong. Keeping things “all in the family,” Malaythong and Mesinee Mangkalakiri lost the mixed doubles to Rai and Lee.

The 2004 U.S. Adult National Badminton Championships were the fourth major USA Badminton event held at LSUS in six years. Last June, the campus hosted the 2003 U.S. Junior National Badminton Championships. LSUS has also played host to the U.S. Senior National Badminton Championships twice, hosting the event in 1999 and 2001.

“USA Badminton was extremely excited to again partner with the Shreveport Regional Sports Authority, this time to bring the Adult National Championships to LSUS,” USA Badminton Executive Director Dan Cloppas said. “This tournament not only offered spectators a chance to see America’s best badminton athletes as they prepare for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, but also provided the opportunity to view America’s next generation of badminton Olympians.”

Badminton is the world’s fastest racquet sport with a shuttle leaving the racket at a speed of almost 200 mph. Today’s players compete in a lightning-fast sport which demands constant, highly concentrated actions – running, jumping, twisting, stretching, running backwards and striking. Besides explosiveness, quick reflexes and rapid hand-eye coordination, competitive badminton players must also possess superb aerobic endurance. In a typical singles match, top players will cover nearly every inch of the court and travel more than a mile.

Badminton is distinguished from other racquet sports – all of which use a ball of some size – by the use of a shuttlecock and the fact the shuttlecock cannot touch the ground during a rally. The flight characteristics of the shuttlecock and the pace created by constant volleying combine to make badminton an exciting sport.