Yang Yang (badminton)

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Yang Yang
Personal information
Date of birth	December 9, 1963 (1963-12-09) (age 44)
Place of birth	Nanjing, Jiangsu
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9+¹⁄₂ in)
Men's singles
Country	China
Handedness	Left

Yang Yang (Chinese: 杨阳) (born December 9, 1963 in Nanjing, Jiangsu) is a former Chinese badminton player.

He is one of the two badminton players in the world to have won two World Badminton Championships men's singles titles consecutively, the other being Lin Dan. He also won the gold medal in badminton as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Summer Olympics, in men's singles.

He possessed high agility and quick footwork, and is regarded as an offensive singles player.

1 Career
2 Major achievements
3 Sources

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

Yang began training in 1975, when he was 12 years old, in Physical Education Colleigate for Youth. He was recruited by the Chinese national team in 1983.

[edit] Professional career

He won his first national championship title in 1984. In 1985, he won the Hong Kong Open by defeating Morten Frost. In 1986, he won the Japan Open, Hong Kong Open, and also help China to retake the Thomas Cup by winning key matches. He contributed significantly in the three consecutive win of Thomas Cup for China. In 1987, he continued to dominate the World Championships (1987, 1989) and various international tournaments. In 1988, he won the Olympic Gold as an exhibition event in Seoul.

[edit] China's Golden Generation

As a member of China's golden badminton generation of the 1980s, Yang Yang played an important role in making China a major world badminton superpower. Players of his generation set the foundation for the current Chinese world badminton players.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Retirement

In 1991, he retired as a player and start coaching in Malaysia. In the very next year, he lead Malaysia to win the Thomas Cup. He then stayed in Malaysia to develop his business for badminton equipment for many years. He returned to China in year 2000, and open a badminton club name after himself in Nanjing.

[edit] Major achievements

Rank	Event	Date	Venue
World Championships
1	Singles	1987	Beijng, CHN
1	Singles	1989	Jakarta, INA
3	Singles	1985	Calgary, CAN
Thomas Cup
1	Team	1988	Kuala Lumpur, MAS
1	Team	1990	Tokyo, JPN
World Cup
1	Singles	1988	THA
1	Singles	1989	CHN
International Opens
1	Singles	1985, 1986	Hong Kong Open
1	Singles	1986	World Grand Prix finals
1	Singles	1986, 1990	Japan Open
1	Singles	1987	Swedish Open
1	Singles	1987	Malaysia Open
1	Singles	1987	Indonesia Open
1	Singles	1988	Singapore Open
1	Singles	1989	All England Open