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| ALL ENGLAND INCUMBENT CHAMPIONS |
Next week, to be precisely from 6 to 11 March 2012, all eyes are turning to the National Indoor Arena (NIA) of Birmingham, United Kingdom as badminton comes home, for one shared destination, one common intriguing and mouthwatering moment. It's the one and only, the oldest international badminton event at individual level.... the 2012 ALL ENGLAND. Currently awarded as one of only few BWF Superseries Premier tournament, the All England has begun since 1899. Many stories, ups and downs, All England is one of the embryos of the world badminton development.
Let us remind ourselves to those honored by the legendary tournament.
The Venues
All England Open Badminton Championships, the official name, has changed its venues eight times before the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, as the followings:
1899-1901 at Headquarters of the London Scottish Rifles, Buckingham Gate
1902 at Crystal Palace Central Transept, Sydenham Hill
1903-1909 London Rifles Brigade's City Headquarters, Bunhill Row, Islington
1910-1939 Horticultural Hall behind the Army and Navy Stores, Vincent Square, Westminster
1947-1949 Harringay Arena, North London Stadium, North London
1950-1956 Empress Hall, Earls Court
1957-1993 Wembley Arena, Wembley, London
1994-beyond National Indoor Arena, Birmingham
The Legends and the Milestones
George Alan Thomas (England) is holding the record in term of overall title holders. Thomas, whom the BWF Thomas Cup World Men's Team Championships after, collected 21 titles from three divisions: 4 men's singles, 9 men's doubles, and 8 mixed doubles. The MD and XD titles are also the record holders.
Ethel B. Thomson (England) has by far been the most successful women's singles player by winning 10 titles, in addition to her long-standing overall 17 title records at female category.
Rudy Hartono Kurniawan (Indonesia) has remained the greatest men's singles with eight wonderful delights.
Gao Ling (China) is the Chinese most successful shuttler with 6 women's doubles and 5 mixed doubles titles, making the tally of 11 overall titles equal to Tonny Ahm (Denmark), Erland Kops (Denmark), and Gillian Gilks (England).
The New Millennium Champions
It must be a wonderful experience to win at memorable momentum. The turn of the new millennium, 2001, saw its first All England winners going to Pullela Gopichand (India, MS), Gong Zichao (China, WS), Tony Gunawan/Halim Haryanto Ho (Indonesia, currently USA, MD), Gao Ling/Huang Sui (China, WD), and Gao Ling/Zhang Jun (China, XD).
The Winners (2001-2011)
Due to very long list of the winners, here I only present the All England winners for the past ten years in each playing division.
Men's Singles:
2001 Pullela Gopichand (IND), 2002 Chen Hong (CHN), 2003 Muhammad Hafiz Hashim (MAS), 2004 Lin Dan (CHN), 2005 Chen Hong (CHN), 2006 Lin Dan (CHN), 2007 Lin Dan (CHN), 2008 Chen Jin (CHN), 2009 Lin Dan (CHN), 2010 Lee Chong Wei (MAS), 2011 Lee Chong Wei (MAS).
Women's Singles:
2001 Gong Zhicao (CHN), 2002 Camilla Martin (DEN), 2003 Zhou Mi (CHN), 2004 Gong Ruina (CHN), 2005 Xie Xinfang (CHN), 2006 Xie Xinfang (CHN), 2007 Xie Xinfang (CHN), 2008 Tine Rasmussen (DEN, now Tine Baun), 2009 Wang Yihan (CHN), 2010 Tine Rasmussen (DEN), 2011 Wang Shixian.
Men's Doubles:
2001 Tony Gunawan/Halim Haryanto Ho (INA, now USA), Ha Tae-kwon/Kim Dong-moon (KOR), 2003 Sigit Budiarto/Candra Wijaya (INA), 2004 Jens Eriksen/Martin Lundgaard Hansen (DEN), 2005 Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng (CHN), 2006 Jens Eriksen/Martin Lundgaard Hansen (DEN), 2007 Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong (MAS), 2008 Jung Jae-sung/Lee Yong-dae (KOR), 2009 Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng (CHN), 2010 Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen (DEN), 2011 Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (DEN).
Women's Doubles:
2001-2006 Gao Ling/Huang Sui (CHN), 2007 Zhang Yawen/Wei Yili (CHN), 2008 Lee Hyo-jung/Lee Kyung-won (KOR), 2009 Zhang Yawen/Zhao Tingting (CHN), 2010 Du Jing/Yu Yang (CHN), 2011 Wang Xiaoli/Yu Yang (CHN).
Mixed Doubles:
2001 Gao Ling/Zhang Jun (CHN), 2002 Ra Kyung-min/Kim Dong-moon (KOR), 2003 Gao Ling/Zhang Jun (CHN), 2004 Ra Kyung-min/Kim Dong-moon (KOR), 2005 Gail Emms/Nathan Robertson (ENG), 2006 Gao Ling/Zhang Jun (CHN), 2007-2008 Gao Ling/Zhang Jun (CHN), 2009 Yo Yang/He Hanbin (CHN), 2010 Zhao Yunlei/Zhang Nan (CHN), 2011 Ma Jin/Xu Chen (CHN).
2011 All England Trailer brought to us by YouTube
