American Kevin Han dreaming of Olympic gold

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta

After the United States team's exit from the Thomas Cup badminton team championship, Kevin Han plans to try his luck at the upcoming Olympics.

With partner Howard Bach, Han will be competing in the Olympics with the dream of winning a gold. They are the only American players among 172 badminton qualifiers.

Han said he knew it would be difficult coming up against the world's best players, but said he was keen to try his best.

The Shanghai-born player started to play badminton when he was 13 years old. He joined a small badminton club and played singles in his city but did not make it to the national training center in his country.

He moved to the United States with his family when he was 17 years old and stopped playing badminton for almost two years due to a work commitment before resuming play again and made it into the U.S. national team.

Like many badminton players in the U.S., Han, the father of two daughters, said that he could not live on his earnings as a player. "There's zero money in badminton." Han works for a home improvement warehouse in the U.S.

He said many other athletes also work there. The company allows flexible working hours for them. "We do not have to be around all the time," he said.

When he first arrived in the U.S., Han said he could have tried to take up more popular sports such as basketball or tennis.

But he chose to continue playing badminton because he said it was the only sport which would give him the opportunity to go to the top.

Han had to bury his Thomas Cup dream after the U.S. team was beaten by fellow minnow Germany in the playoff round on Tuesday night.

Han's fellow members were Howard Bach, Eric Go, Khan Bob Malaythong and former Indonesian star Tony Gunawan, who took the role of player and coach.

With the small number of team members, Han also played in the singles.

"I play doubles but there are only five of us so I also took the singles. It's hard for me because I have been trained as a doubles player," he said.

In the group matches, U.S. suffered a 5-0 drubbing by badminton giants China and Indonesia.

Han said he was happy that he had the chance to play against the world's best teams.

"China is getting better and better. They have five very good singles players and have two strong doubles. They're the top team in the world and stand a very good chance of winning the Thomas Cup this year and maybe for many years to come," he said about the team from his native land.

Han and Howard, currently ranked 21st in the world, have participated in many competitions such as the Thailand Open, Swiss Open, All England, Korea Open and Japan Open this year, though they have never been able to get past the quarterfinals.

Their rare moment of glory came in a continental tournament by winning the Peru International in April 2004.

"We're not among the best teams in the world. We're actually in the middle but we're going to give our best in the Olympic Games in Athens," Han said.