Florin Balaban | |
|---|---|
 Balaban in 2008 | |
| Born | 16 August 1968 Nicorești, Romania |
| Citizenship |
|
| Alma mater | Transylvania University of Braşov |
| Occupation(s) | Cartoonist, illustrator |
| Badminton career | |
| Country | Romania |
| Years active | 1990–1995 |
| Handedness | Right |
| Career record | 16 wins, 29 losses |
Florin Balaban (born 16 August 1968) is a Romanian cartoonist, illustrator and former badminton player. He is the first Romanian badminton player to compete in the Olympic Games. [1]
Balaban first started his career in badminton in the 1990s. He won the national championship in men's singles two consecutive times in 1990 and 1991. He also competed in the Romanian International in 1991 where he lost in the final to Tamás Gebhard of Hungary. [2]
In 1992, Balaban won the national men's doubles title with his partner Florentin Banu. In that same year, he competed in the men's singles tournament at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He lost in the first round to Anil Kaul of Canada. [3]
After Balaban retired from badminton, he started a new career in art as a cartoonist and a painter. He also moved to Luxembourg to pursue his career in art and has worked as an illustrator for Luxemburger Wort. [4] In 2002, he was awarded the Premio Internationale Satira Politica in Forte dei Marmi, Italy. [5]
He also founded the Caricature and Cartoon Museum in Vianden and organizes the Vianden International Caricature and Cartoon Show. [6] [7]
Men's singles
| Year | Tournament | Opponent | Score | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Romanian International |  Tamás Gebhard | 5–15, 5–15 |  Runner-up |
Wong Choong Hann is a former badminton player from Malaysia. He was the first Malaysian to win a medal in the men's singles event at the BWF World Championships. He resigned as the coaching director for the Malaysia national badminton team in June 2023.
Howard Bach is a Vietnamese-American male badminton player from the United States. He was the 2005 world champion in the men's doubles with Tony Gunawan.
Martin Lundgaard Hansen is a badminton player from Denmark. He started his career in badminton as a singles player, and competed in the 1993 IBF World Championships. But as the years went by, he made a choice to play doubles. Teamed-up with Lars Paaske, they emerged as the men's doubles champion at the 1999, 2001 Denmark Open, and in 2000, he and Paaske participated at the Olympic Games. The career highlights for Hansen was when he partnered with Jens Eriksen. The duo won the 2004 and 2006 All England Open, won gold at the European Championships, and was at the time a half years as No.1 in the world.
Hans Robert Liljequist is a retired male badminton player from Finland.
Liew Daren is a Malaysian former badminton player. His biggest success throughout his career is having won the 2012 French Open Super Series. He reached a career high ranking of World No.10. He also represented Malaysia competed at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Son Wan-ho is a South Korean badminton player. He reached a career high as world number 1 in the men's singles in May 2017. He competed at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. He plays primarily defensively, and began playing badminton after a teacher suggested it to him in elementary school. He holds a bachelor's degree from Inha University in Incheon, South Korea. In 2017, he helped the Korean national team reach the final at the Sudirman Cup and won that tournament. He is married to compatriot women's singles player, Sung Ji-hyun.
Anthony Sinisuka Ginting is an Indonesian badminton player. He first rose to senior prominence when he won the bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games, having won a 2014 Youth Olympic bronze in 2014. At the 2020 Olympics, he won bronze in the men's singles event, becoming the first Youth Olympic badminton medalist to win a medal at the Olympics. Ginting was part of Indonesia's winning team at the 2020 Thomas Cup.
Angus Ng Ka Long is a badminton player from Hong Kong. He has a career-high ranking of 6th in the men's singles discipline. He won the 2016 Hong Kong Super Series, the 2020 Thailand Masters and the 2023 German Open.
Jacob Maliekal is a male badminton player from South Africa. He became the South Africa national team members in 2009 and won gold medals at the 2011 and 2014 African Games in badminton men's singles event. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Hsu Jen-hao is a Taiwanese badminton player.
Lee Zii Jia is a Malaysian badminton player. He was the men's singles gold medalist at the 2019 SEA Games and won his first BWF Super 1000 title at the 2021 All England Open. Lee is the 2022 men's singles Asian champion, winning the title at the 2022 Badminton Asia Championships.
Cheam June Wei is a Malaysian badminton player. He was the mixed doubles gold medalist at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics.
Kunlavut Vitidsarn is a Thai badminton player. He is the current men's singles World Champion as he won the gold medal at the 2023 World Championships. He was also three-times World Junior champion, winning in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Vitidsarn became the first men's singles player to win three World Junior Championships titles, joining Ratchanok Intanon and Chen Qingchen as a three-time winner of the World Junior title in the same discipline. He claimed the gold medal at the Asian Junior Championships in 2019, where he previously won a silver in 2018 and bronze in 2017. Vitidsarn participated at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics, and was part of the team Omega took the silver medal in the mixed team event. He was named the 2020/2021 Eddy Choong Most Promising Player. In the senior category, he won the silver medal at the 2022 World Championships and, in the following year, the gold medal at the 2023 World Championships. He became the first Thai player to win the World Championships title in the men's singles category.
Sho Sasaki is a Japanese retired badminton player from Tonami Transportation badminton team. He competed at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics. He also competed in four Asian Games from 2002 to 2014.
The 2019 BWF season was the overall badminton circuit organized by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) for the 2019 badminton season to publish and promote the sport. The world badminton tournament in 2019 consisted of:
1. BWF Tournaments
Kodai Naraoka is a Japanese badminton player affiliated with FWD Group. Born in Aomori, he started playing badminton at the age of 5 with the influence of his father. He won the silver medal at the 2023 World Championships.
The Romania national badminton team represents Romania in international badminton team competitions. The Romanian national team have never participated in the Sudirman Cup, Thomas Cup and the Uber Cup. Romania participated in the 2006 European Men's Team Badminton Championships and were eliminated in the group stages.
Jacek Hankiewicz is a Polish badminton player. He is a 4-time national champion in men's singles and a 6-time national champion in men's doubles.
Wu Wenkai is a Chinese badminton player. He competed in the men's singles tournament at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Ng Tze Yong is a Malaysian badminton player. Ng won a bronze medal at the 2021 Sudirman Cup. He also helped Malaysian team to win gold at the 2022 Badminton Asia Team Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games.
 | This biographical article relating to Romanian badminton is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
