New Zealand's Gordon enjoys playing in Indonesia

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta

New Zealand's Thomas Cup badminton team may have been defeated but Kiwi singles player John Gordon deserved praise for his winning run to steal one point in the team's 4-1 defeat by Germany.

Being only a newcomer to this competition, the team was well aware of its prospects.

"It's very disappointing that we lost the series, but we didn't have any plan (to win) the Thomas Cup anyway, so I just enjoyed the game," Gordon said after he defeated Marc Zwiebler of Germany 15-9, 15-0 on Saturday.

Against Germany and South Africa in Group B, New Zealand is expected to finish third, giving it a difficult match against either China or Indonesia.

Other foreign players may have complained about the noisy Indonesian audience during their games but Gordon said he grew to like it.

"I think it's great to play in front of an audience like this," he said. This is his second time in Indonesia and he likes playing here.

Gordon hails from Rotorua, a city two and a half-hours away from the country's biggest city, Auckland.

He started playing badminton at the age of 12. His mother used to play badminton and that was how he got interested.

"Badminton is a great fast game. It is very rewarding to hear the cheering crowd when you score a point. I used to play soccer and cricket when I was still at school, but cricket was far too slow for me, I'd rather play badminton," he said.

"When I was 18, I moved to Auckland because I wanted to join the badminton clubs there and I managed to get into the national team," Gordon said.

Gordon began playing doubles in 2000 and met his partner Daniel Shirley. They both enjoyed winning runs in small badminton tournaments.

Badminton was not a popular game in New Zealand, he said. Most people preferred to play other sports such as cricket, rugby and soccer. There were few badminton clubs in the country and only 12,000 people were registered players compared its population of about 4 million people.

When asked about his future career as badminton player, Gordon said he would quit badminton as soon as he graduated from university and found a job. He is currently studying law at the University of Auckland and will do his masters degree in commerce.

"I will graduate in 2006, and by that time I will probably quit playing badminton," he said, adding that he wanted to become a lawyer.