New Zealand's Gordon enjoys playing in Indonesia

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.