Tokyo Olympics: US shuttlers seek first medal in badminton

U.S.A. BADMINTON

Beiwen Zhang hopes to medal in Tokyo.

Like table tennis, Asian Americans make up the entire US Olympic badminton team.

The US has never won an Olympic medal in badminton since it became an Olympic sport in 1992. This year, the American badminton world may see the medal drought end.

Beiwen Zhang, the 12th-ranked eligible player in the Race to Tokyo rankings, has competed for the U.S. since 2013, and this will be her first opportunity to play on the biggest stage. She most recently secured a gold medal in women’s singles for the U.S. in Guatemala at the XXIV Pan Am Individual Championships 2021. She has beaten several of the highest ranked players in the world, including Olympic medal winners who she'll compete with in Tokyo.

Zhang's was born in 1990 in China, where she lived until the age of 13 when she moved to Singapore. For almost a decade, she played internationally for that nation.

In 2011, she moved to Las Vegas where she faced the shocking reality that her sport doesn't have the same level of popularity that it enjoys in Asia. 

Unlike top players from countries where badminton is widely popular, Zhang doesn’t have a national training facility where she regularly goes to practice. Badminton is a sport that major sponsors seeking endorsements for their product seem to overlook the swatters of the shuttlecock. Shoe manufacturers like Nike, Puma and Addidas and makers of sports equipment such as Under Armour and Wilson don't seek out badminton players.

It's understandable, Zhang and other members of the U.S. Olympic Badminton team  are not household names and ESPN gives more air time to the National Spelling Bee than to badminton.

The lack of badminton’s widespread popularity in the U.S. would make an Olympic medal mean even more to Zhang.

Zhang made headlines three years ago when she started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $5,500 to cover her travel expenses to the 2018 world championships after she qualified for the major tournament. She ended up surpassing her fundraising goal in less than a week.

In addition to not having a regular training site in the U.S., Zhang doesn’t have a coach who attends her matches and assesses her game. She has to determine on her own her strengths and those areas of her game that need improvement.

To maintain the competitive edge, the shuttler still trains in Singapore with Yonex and some sponsors in Hong Kong and her own funds being her only financial constants. Additionally, Asia is where she can play the world's top players compete in major tournaments.

Ryan, left, and Phillip Chew compete in men's doubles.

Zhang hopes a place on the Olympic podium will change the status of her sport in the U.S. Other members of the team are: Ryan and Phillip Chew in Men's Doubles and Timothy Kan in Men's Singles.

The Chew brothers are doubles partners in badminton, share Zhang's dream of medaling in Tokyo but they know that history and the odds are against them.

“We are definitely underdogs compared to Asia and many strong pairs in Europe coming out. But our goal is, of course, to medal. … And if not, hopefully in future Olympics to come, we can bring the sport to become a medal-winning sport as well,” Ryan says.