Promoting Badminton in His Own Backyard

The slight, well-dressed man in his 60s had a wider smile than usual Sunday night at the Arrowhead Pond.

Watching Tony Gunawan and Howard Bach win the men’s doubles title at the International Badminton Federation World Championships was like a dream come true for Don Chew.

After winning the opening game, 15-11, and losing the second, 10-15, Gunawan and Bach rallied from an 11-9 deficit in the deciding game and defeated the Indonesian team of Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto, 15-11, to complete a historic week for American badminton.

“Nine years ago, I wanted to bring the U.S. to this level,” Chew said. “Now, we’re in the picture.”

No American badminton player had won a medal in Olympic or world championship competition before this week, and Gunawan and Bach said they’d still be empty handed if not for the support of Chew. “He sacrificed a lot for badminton,” Gunawan said before the championship match. “There’s no way we’d be where we are without him.”

It was Chew who invested a big chunk of his family’s small fortune to build the Orange County Badminton Club in Orange. The world-class facility, which opened in 1996, quickly began luring top players from the U.S. and other parts of the world.

Bach, 26, moved from San Francisco to Orange five years ago to train at the facility. Gunawan, 30, left his native Indonesia in 2002, two years after winning a gold medal at the Sydney Olympics. When Gunawan was first introduced to Chew, he was not only offered a coaching job at the center, but free room and board until he and his wife, Eti, could secure a place of their own.

It was also Chew, as president of USA Badminton from 2000-2004, who helped bring the world championships to the United States for the first time last week. With 70% of IBF events held in China or Indonesia, it was a rare chance for U.S. players to be crowd favorites.

“He’s become one of my inspirations,” Gunawan said of Chew. “His goal was to make badminton big in the U.S., and it has become my goal too.”

Peter Ueberroth, chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said Saturday he’s convinced every Olympic sport would benefit from a training hub like the OCBC. As evidence, he pointed to U.S. fencing’s success at the 2004 Olympics. Supported by clubs in Oregon and New York, the U.S. team produced its first gold medal in 100 years.

“With good coaching and a good facility, you can develop great athletes in America,” Ueberroth said.

Chew likes to describe how badminton helped redirect his life at a young age. He smoked and drank while growing up in Bangkok, but once introduced to the sport, he learned how to turn discipline and strategy into success.

Those traits carried over to the business world, where Chew has built a million-dollar printing business since immigrating to the U.S. in 1972.

“The sport changed my life,” he said.

Chew began with a hamburger stand in Monrovia, then worked at a print shop. On the side, he started printing and selling labels to his own clients. Soon, he ran out of time for his other job and space in his Anaheim garage.

When his daughter, Bebe, and son, Gus, played badminton at Anaheim Katella High in the early 1980s, Chew wanted to offer his time and knowledge, but couldn’t escape work during the day. “I told myself, ‘One of these days, if I make it, I’m going to build a badminton club,’ ” he said.

When Chew’s company, K&D; Graphics, outgrew its second location, Chew found available land in Orange. In 1994, he purchased a plot a few blocks from the Pond and soon began looking for ways to finance the construction of a badminton club. After some odd looks from the city’s planning commission, he gained approval and the doors opened two years later.

The 12-court facility includes NBA-caliber flooring supported by two inches of padding, prime lighting and first-class locker areas. Even the air conditioning was designed so as not to disrupt the flight of the shuttlecock.

“I’ve been everywhere and this is the best facility,” Gunawan said.

Chew remains an at-large director for USAB and continues donating thousands of dollars to the organization each year, even if it means putting off retirement from his printing company.

Gunawan says he hopes his performance with Bach will provide some sort of payback.

“He spent a lot of money and energy and time,” Gunawan said. “I’m really glad that we were able to come this far.”

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In the men’s singles final, sixth-seeded Taufik Kidayat of Indonesia upset top-seeded Dan Lin of China, 15-3, 15-7.

In women’s singles, second-seeded Xingfang Xie of China defeated top-seeded Ning Zhang of China, 11-8, 9-11, 11-3, to win the title.

In the mixed doubles final, fourth-seeded Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir of Indonesia rallied for a 13-15, 15-8, 15-2 victory over 11th-seeded Zhongbo Xie and Yawen Zhang of China.