Buena Park’s Sundara Has Done Her Homework

Orange County girls’ badminton players beware: Noy Sundara is watching.

Sundara, a junior at Buena Park High School, is expected to be the top girls’ player in the county this season, several coaches said.

Her strength is studying opponents, discovering their weaknesses and using them to her advantage.

“I played at the Garden Grove tournament and I saw a lot of players,” said Sundara, who also is playing No. 1 mixed doubles. “I watched them and saw their weaknesses so when I play them I can beat them.”

Apparently, Sundara has a keen eye. She opened the season by winning No. 1 singles at the Garden Grove tournament on March 2 and is 12-0 for the Coyotes, the defending 4-A Southern Section champions.

Buena Park Coach Michelle Tafoya said she considers Sundara the favorite to win the Southern Section singles title this season. Tafoya, in her second season as head coach, should be an accurate judge. She played badminton at Buena Park before graduating in 1976, and she sometimes works out against Sundara in practice.

“She’s really strong and her shots are very accurate,” Tafoya said. “I played her the other day and her shots were always in. You’d think they were out, but they were in. She knows just where to place the bird.”

Sundara’s accuracy is trouble for opponents. Sundara, 17, said she wears down opponents during matches.

“I make them run a lot,” she said. “I get them in the back (of the court), usually with two shots. Then I use a drop shot. I make them tired. They quit. They won’t run.”

Sundara makes beating other top players sound simple, but two years ago she was struggling to learn the game. As a freshman, she played No. 2 singles for the junior varsity.

“When I was a freshman, I didn’t know how to play badminton,” said Sundara, who was introduced to the sport by two cousins. “Everyone was telling me, ‘Do this, do that.’ I was running all around trying to listen to everybody. I didn’t know anything.”

Sundara did not make a good first impression on Tafoya. Then an assistant coach, Tafoya said she “didn’t really notice Noy as a freshman.”

The summer following her freshman season, however, Sundara played in eight tournaments and often practiced against older, more-experienced players.

As a result, Tafoya and opponents couldn’t help but notice Sundara as a sophomore.

She moved to No. 1 singles, reached the semifinals of the Southern Section tournament and finished the season with a 59-5 record. She was the second-team girls’ singles player on The Times’ all-county badminton team.

“Sometimes, you’ll get new kids and they look really good but they stay on that plateau,” Tafoya said. “Her skills kept on improving. She really improved from a freshman to a sophomore.”

The improvement came as no surprise to Scott Lee, Sundara’s mixed doubles partner this season.

“She was just an extra as a freshman, but we knew she was a good athlete,” Lee said. “She got a lot better her sophomore year and started beating everybody. She anticipates real well and she’s smart.”

Sundara said her backhand is her greatest weakness. Confidence, though, is no problem.

“I’m very happy with my play this year,” she said. “I think I can win CIF. I think I can go undefeated.”

1990 BADMINTON PREVIEW

Top teams: Buena Park, Estancia, Garden Grove, Katella, La Habra.

Top players: Boys--John Chong and Prat Mallawong, Garden Grove; Sang Lee, Katella; Scott Lee, Buena Park; Hoang Ly, Estancia; Rudy Tanuwidjaja, La Habra.

Top players: Girls--Mylinn Nguyen, Estancia; Da Sundara and Noy Sundara, Buena Park; Kelly Wang, Katella.

Important Dates: Southern Section individual finals May 18; Team championships May 24.

Notes: Estancia’s Hoang Ly, 65-1 as a junior last season, has placed second in the Southern Section boys’ singles final two consecutive years. He opened the season by winning the No. 1 singles title at a tournament at Garden Grove March 2. He could meet Southern Section defending champion Dan Mussman of Alta Loma in a tournament at Estancia this weekend. Singles finals are at 5 p.m. Saturday.

The girls’ Southern Section title is up for grabs. Last year’s champion, Sanne Simonsen of Cypress, was a foreign exchange student from Denmark. Runner-up Grace Van Someran of Katella graduated. Several coaches say Buena Park’s Noy Sundara is the preseason favorite for the title.

Buena Park, which defeated Nogales to win the Southern Section 4-A championship last year after placing second the previous two years, is again expected to be the county’s top team. Buena Park opened the season by winning the Garden Grove tournament, led by Sundara’s championship at No. 1 singles.