Badminton buddies serve up one last hurrah

A fresh college graduate with a passion for data analysis has teamed up with an aspiring lawyer for men's badminton doubles to fulfill a dream at the Chengdu FISU World University Games.

For the Singaporean athletes, the goal is not only to train and compete hard but also to enjoy themselves on the court while representing their home country one last time.

"I guess (coming here) for us is more about seeing the real scale of the whole games," said Neaton Ang Jia Jun, 25, who graduated with a degree in data science and analytics at the National University of Singapore earlier this year.

"Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we didn't really get to travel much during our school days, so it's a good opportunity for us to have a final game before we officially leave the sport."

The Chengdu games that opened on Friday were postponed twice due to the pandemic. To mitigate the effect on student-athletes, the International University Sports Federation broadened eligibility requirements, allowing current university students aged between 18 and 27, as well as those who graduated from 2020 to 2022, to participate.

Li Zhengxi, Ang's doubles partner, graduated last year with a bachelor's degree in law from the National University of Singapore.

"Badminton has always been a passion for me, and I believe for Neaton as well. When we heard that the games were delayed, we were slightly disheartened," the 26-yearold said. "But when this edition came and they changed the rules to allow alumni like us to play, I think we just grabbed the opportunity."

Both Ang and Li now have full-time jobs in Singapore. Nonetheless, they believe the trip to Chengdu was worthwhile.

"We know that this will be the last time that we can possibly represent Singapore… so we thought, why not do it one last time and do it well?" Li said.

In their debut, they lost 16-21, 19-21 to Poland's Robert Cybulski and Mikolaj Jan Szymanowski during the fourth match of the mixed team event, which took place at the Shuangliu Sports Centre Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon.

"I think it was a close fight," said Li. "This was also our first match together during the competition, so maybe we have not realized our best potential yet, and hopefully we'll get better over the next few games."

Ang added, "I guess we came here more as friends, and we just wanted to compete together and have a good time."

The pair's friendship began at the university. They said that striking a balance between sports and academics was a challenging but rewarding experience.

"I think time management and a certain level of discipline are required," Ang said. "I managed to do it to a certain extent, and the experience also taught me to be a more resilient person."

For Li, he said some sacrifices had to be made to prioritize certain tasks and make the most of their limited time.

"Over the past few years, we had to cut back on things such as social interaction, going out with friends and sleep," he said. "I started working this year, so training hasn't been really easy. I've been trying to train maybe two to three times a week if it was possible. It could get quite hectic."

At the Chengdu event, Li will also compete in mixed doubles, and Ang will take part in men's singles.

Ang said he and Li are focusing on the games at the moment and hope to play a few good matches in the coming days. He has been able to take a peek at the abundance of culture and history of Chengdu by watching online videos.

In addition to pandas, Ang said that he would also be interested in visiting geographical sites in the city, such as the Dujiangyan, a centuries-old irrigation system.