Eddie Choong
| Eddy Choong | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Choong Ewe Beng | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |
Malaya Malaysia |
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| Born |
29 May 1930 Penang, British Malaya (now Malaysia) |
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| Died | 28 January 2013 (aged 82) George Town, Penang, Malaysia |
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| Height | 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | Men's singles, men's and mixed doubles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| Eddy Choong | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 莊友明 | ||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 庄友明 | ||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Zhuāng You Míng |
Choong Ewe Beng (29 May 1930 – 28 January 2013) was a Malaysian badminton player. He was David Choong's brother and they played men's doubles together.
Choong Ewe Beng, also known as Eddy, was a Chinese Malaysian born on May 29, 1930. He was the third son of a wealthy family in Penang. His parents were Datuk Choong Eng Hai and Datin Ho Guat Im.
Choong first went to primary and secondary school in Penang before moving to England at the turn of the 1950s to study law and medicine. His passion for the sport quickly eclipsed his studies and Eddy later said his studies were “long forgotten”.
Measuring at 1.62 metres (5 ft 4 in), Eddy was smaller than most of his European competitors but he made up for the height difference with endless energy and amazing acrobatic jumps that triggered a running gag about Eddy hiding springs in his shoes. Eddy was considered to be one of the first athletes to do a jump smash. His trademark shot was known as the “Airborne Kill”.
He won hundreds of regional titles and over 65 international titles in all three disciplines from 1949 to 1966. Eddy won many of these titles partnering his brother, David Choong, and his cousin, Amy Choong. Thirty of his international titles were gained from 1951 to 1953.
Noted for his quickness, tenacity, and stamina, Choong won men's the singles at the All England Open Badminton Championships four times between 1953 and 1957 when it was considered the unofficial world championship of the sport. He also reached the All-England singles final in 1952 and 1955 and won the men's doubles with his brother in 1951, 1952, and 1953. He was a member of the 1955 Malayan Thomas Cup (men's international) team which retained the world team championship, and the 1958 team which surrendered the title to Indonesia
Eddy was also a strong promoter of racial equality. Partially due to bad experiences during his childhood, Eddy was sensitive to racial issues. Eddy saw his performances in badminton as a way of showing that all races can be equally good at sport.
At the 1956 All England, he refused to attend the traditional celebration dinner because he felt the organisers treated him unfairly due to racial discrimination. On another occasion, Jørn Skaarup of Denmark gave away a match to Choong in which he felt the Malaysian was treated unfairly. Skaarup earned Choong’s respect and friendship with his fair play.
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Wikipedia