masterbad

L’après World Championship 2005

Tony GUNAWAN et Howard BACH – athlètes olympiques Américains de la Semaine

Source : USA TODAY – 23 août 2005

Athletes of the Week smash barriers and birdies

By Beau Dure, USATODAY.com

The U.S. has not had much success in badminton over the past few decades. No U.S. entry had ever medaled in Olympic or World Championship competition.

Until Sunday.

Playing on home soil in Anaheim, Calif., Tony Gunawan and Howard Bach rallied from an 11-9 deficit in the deciding game to win the world doubles title 15-11, 10-15, 15-11 over Indonesia's Candra Wijay and Sigit Budiarto.

The final opposition was familiar — Gunawan formerly competed for Indonesia and won the 2000 Olympic gold with Wijay. He also won a world title in 1997.

Gunawan came to the U.S. in 2001 to continue his academic pursuits. He teamed with U.S. veteran Bach, who had some success internationally. But nothing like this.

For their efforts, Gunawan and Bach are USATODAY.com's U.S. Olympic Athletes of the Week.

Taufik Hidayat fait la UNE

Indonésie

Hidayat’s pictures dominated frontpages of most newspapers, with headlines about his victory eclipsing bad news such as the plunge of the local currency and long-dragging corruption investigations.

Bien sûr, l’Indonésie fête le premier doublé consécutif Titre Olympique et Championnat du Monde de Taufik Hidayat. Ils n’oublient pas que Tony Gunawan avait déjà gagné pour l’Indonésie le titre en double, ce qui faisait 3 Indonésiens en finale. Et acclament la 5^e médaille d’or en 25 pour le mixte de Nova Widianto et Lilyana Natsir.

La Nouvelle-Zélande au firmament

New Zealand Herald – 24 août 2005

Badminton: Surge in world rankings boosts local hopes

New Zealand badminton is on a high, with their continued dominance over Australia, plus Bellingham's world championship effort sitting alongside the outstanding bronze medal-winning performance of mixed doubles pair Dan Shirley and Sara Runesten-Petersen.
They are New Zealand's first world championship medallists, and gave the sport a big fillip ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

Photo : Tony GUNAWAN – Howard BACH (USA)