U.S. Olympic Badminton Team

The sport of badminton is under-appreciated in the United States compared to China and much of Asia. Tickets to the event in the Beijing Olympics were among the first to sell out. Badminton officially became an Olympic sport in 1992. China is the heavy favorite to win this year and already has 22 Olympic medals to prove its prowess. The U.S. has never won a medal in Olympic badminton competition, although the 2005 world champion was 29-year-old Howard Bach, a member of the U.S. team this year.

Besides Bach, the remaining 5 members of the Olympic team are first-or second-generation Americans. And lest you think badminton is a sissy sport, the shuttlecock can travel up to 200 mph.

The members of the U.S. Olympic team are:

Howard Bach (San Francisco, Calif.) – Men’s Doubles/Mixed Doubles

Khan “Bob” Malaythong (Rockville, Md.) – Mixed Doubles

Eva Leef (Orange, Calif.) – Women’s Singles/Mixed Doubles/Women’s Doubles

Mesinee “May” Mangkalakiri (Garden Grove, Calif.) – Women’s Doubles

Raju Rai (Atlanta, Ga.) – Men’s Singles

To learn more about the U.S. Olympic badminton team, visit the U.S. Badminton Web site. If you want to see all U.S. Olympic qualifiers in every sport for the Beijing games, search on the official U.S. Olympics page.