Victor Lai Diary: The Journey Continues…

Chou Tien Chen and Victor Lai are a generation apart – Chou, the oldest men’s singles medalist at 36, and Victor one of the youngest at 21. As bronze medalists at the BWF World Championships, they share the podium with winner Alex Lanier and runner-up Kodai Naraoka.

“We are a badminton family,” Chou says, on the respect that players have for each other despite the rivalries and differences in background.

“Last year at the US Open, I see this kid, he really has potential. I thought he would go up. I have to be careful while playing him because he beat many of my young teammates. So I thought he’s good, and I’m not surprised that he can go up, and we can grow up together because we are a badminton family, so we can improve together. This is more important for our sport.”

What particularly impressed him about the young Canadian?

“Patience. He’s skilful. I can learn from young players. Always improving, learning. I will look out for him and we can learn and train together.”

Victor too expresses his deep admiration for Chou. At 36, Chou’s longevity at the elite level is the stuff of badminton legend and an inspiration to all players.

“I mentioned before, he’s a legend. He’s an inspiration to all of us for the way he’s playing at his age and his longevity, and just everything… it’s seriously inspirational and I’m not just saying that because he’s here. I really mean that. And a lot of people can relate to me as well.

“Every part of the game you can learn from him. He’s great in all aspects of the game – mentally, physically, technically… everything. I think one of the biggest things is just his devotion to the game. And just the way he enjoys badminton so much. He loves the sport and he’s really devoted to it. As you can see, the way he’s playing at his age.”

“One of them was actually the first round, I was down 11-5 against Jeon Hyeok Jin, and I just like dug deep and really fought my way through that first round, because I saw (Christo) Popov lose a couple of hours before me, so it was looming in the back of my head, like, I don’t want to be another surprise.

“The second one is, thinking back to the game against Alex (Lanier), I was winning in the second after winning the first, there were one or two points where it kind of changed the tide and he started getting a lot of momentum.

“The last thing is the prize ceremony, seeing the Canadian flag on the podium.

“I’ll never forget the moment. I’ll never forget last year, and this year when I saw the flag raising up. That’s just something an athlete dreams of. You don’t dream of getting third, but it’s still a dream to see your flag.”

It is time to say goodbye to New Delhi. As he heads back, what will he work on in the journey ahead?

“The first thing is, I’m very happy with the performance this week. There are definitely things to build on: especially physically, but, of course, also badminton-wise a lot of things, a lot of skills, a lot of techniques that I have to fine-tune and be sharper on, but I’m pretty excited.

“After this tournament I have some time to build on myself as an athlete, just get better in different ways, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

Follow Lai’s BWF World Championships Journey Here:

Victor Lai Diary 6: ‘I Proved Last Year Wasn’t Luck’

Victor Lai Diary 1: Walking on the Clouds