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NEWS
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Olympic champion Wijaya hailed Player of the Year for 2000
January 22, 2001 - Source : IBF
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22/01/2001 : The International Badminton Federation today named Indonesia's Olympic hero Candra Wijaya as the recipient of its "Eddy Choong Player of the Year" award for 2000.
Twenty-five-year-old Wijaya is just the third recipient of this prestigious award, named after the Malaysian legend Eddy Choong who put Malaysian badminton into the European limelight. He dominated the European circuit in the early 1950's and was part of Malaysia's 1955 Thomas Cup winning squad.
Wijaya enjoyed a prosperous year on the badminton circuit, winning the Chinese Taipei, Japan and Indonesia, as well as being an integral part of Indonesia's successful Thomas Cup campaign last May.
However, the pinnacle of the year came at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, where Wijaya and partner Tony Gunawan scooped Indonesia's only gold medal of the Games after a gripping men's doubles final against Korea's Lee Dong Soo and Yoo Yong Sung.
IBF President Lu Shengrong sent personal her congratulations, and those of the IBF Council to Wijaya, saying: "Badminton could not wish for a better ambassador for our sport."
Other nominations for the 2000 award were England's Olympic bronze medallist Joanne Goode, and India''s Pulella Gopichand. In an unofficial poll here at World Badminton Online, Gopichand was voted internet fans' men's singles Player of the Year.
Previous recipients of the award are Peter Gade in 1998, and Camilla Martin in 1999. |
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A tour
of the Senayan Indoor Tennis Stadium |
JVC-Asia Badminton
Championships 2002 |
JVC-Asia Badminton
Championships 2001 |
JVC-Asia Badminton
Championships 2000 |
JVC-Asia Badminton
Championships 1999 |
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