Virgil Soeroredjo (born 11 March 1985) is a former Surinamesebadminton player and now coach. He competed for Suriname at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[1] He also competed for Suriname at 3 Pan Am Games: 2003, the 2007 & 2011. As a young badminton player with the club SCVU in Suriname, Soeroredjo won juniors titles and was selected to represent his country abroad, winning several juniors medals at Caribbean, Central American and South American events. Much of his success was with his doubles partner Mitchel Wongsodikromo.
Multiple Caribbean and Pan Am Juniors badminton championships
Together Soeroredjo and Wongsodikromo won the Pan Am Boys Doubles U-17 juniors title at Cuba after they won the Caribbean Boys Doubles titles U-17 & U-19 the same year at Barbados.[citation needed] At the 2000 Carebaco Games, Soeroredjo won five gold medals and a silver medal, winning the triple in the U-17 category plus Boys Doubles in the U-19 category and the U-19 team event for Suriname and second place in Mixed Doubles U-19. In 2001, Soeroredjo successfully defended four of his five Carebaco juniors titles, only losing his singles U-17 title in the final at Jamaica. In 2001 Soeroredjo & Wongsodikromo won Boys Doubles U-17 gold at the South American Juniors Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[citation needed] That year they also won the Regatas Cup for Boys Doubles U-17 in Lima, Peru. In 2002, Soeroredjo & Wongsodikromo became Pan American Juniors Semi-Champions U-19 in Orange County, USA. At the same event, Soeroredjo also took two bronze medals, one in the U-19 Mixed Doubles category and also in the team event, where the Surinamese juniors team beat favorites Canada. In the 2002 Carebaco Games, Soeroredjo won gold in the Men's Singles and the Men's Doubles U-19 juniors categories at Puerto Rico. Together with compatriot Carolyn Davids he participated in the Pan American IBF World Academy training camp held in Lima, Peru in 2002. In the 2003 Carebaco Games at Trinidad & Tobago, Soeroredjo lost both the U-19 Boys Singles & Mixed Doubles finals to his compatriot Wongsodikromo. Together, they won the Boys Doubles U-19 title and the Carebaco Juniors 2003 team event. [2]
International and national achievements
In 2002, they both won a Men's Singles bronze medal at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games (CACSO Games 2002) in San Salvador. In 2003 Soeroredjo was part of the first Surinamese badminton team that participated at the Sudirman Cup Mixed Teams World Championships in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. In 2005 at the Carebaco Open Championships held in Cuba, Soeroredjo managed to reach the semi-finals in Men's Singles, achieving a bronze medal for that as well as in the Team Event.[citation needed]
Soeroredjo won six National Men's Singles titles in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013 & 2014. Internationally he was a triple champion at the Suriname International in 2008 winning all three categories in Men's Singles, Men's Doubles and Mixed Doubles. In 2009, he won the Men's Singles and Men's Doubles titles at the Suriname International, in 2010 he won the Mixed Doubles title and in 2011, he won the Men's Doubles title at the Suriname International.
In 2010, Soeroredjo & Wongsodikromo reached the final at the Bill Graham Miami International[3] and in 2011 they reached the semi-final of that same event.[4] In 2011, Soeroredjo won both the Suriname International and the Carebaco International[5] in Men's Doubles. In March 2010 Soeroredjo was also part of the Suriname badminton team that won a bronze medal in Mixed Teams at the 2010 South American Games in Medellín.[citation needed] In July 2010, Soeroredjo & Wongsodikromo won the only medal, a bronze, for Suriname at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games by reaching the semi-finals. In 2012 Soeroredjo was part of the first Suriname Men's badminton team that participated at the Thomas Cup preliminaries in Los Angeles, USA.[citation needed]
In 2009, Soeroredjo moved to the Netherlands, training under coach Mike van Daal. He participated at the highest badminton club competition level, the Eredivisie, for BC Culemborg and BV van Zijderveld. At that time Soeroredjo started turning his focus to his sports management studies at the Johan Cruyff University in Amsterdam.[citation needed] From 2012, the Surinamese national badminton association, Surinaamse Badminton Bond, had been organizing an annual Top 8 Singles event in honor of Soeroredjo's participation at the 2012 London Olympics. Soeroredjo was planning on attending the 2013 event in his home country held by the badminton club of Nieuw Stenov, but unfortunately could not due to his busy study schedule.[citation needed]
In November 2013, Soeroredjo attended the National Championships and 7th Suriname International in Paramaribo. In April 2014, he won the 3rd Assuria International Easter Badminton Tournament 2014 in Paramaribo, beating young Jamaican talent Samuel Ricketts in the final. In November 2014, Soeroredjo attended the National Championships and 8th Suriname International in Paramaribo. Due to a recurring knee injury, Soeroredjo decided to retire as an international player in December 2015. He then went on to successfully complete the BWF Level 1 and Level 2 Badminton Coaches courses.[citation needed]
Soeroredjo and his wife Willeke have two daughters and lives in Zeeland, the Netherlands. Soeroredjo graduated in 2018 in sports marketing from the Johan Cruijff University in the Netherlands, and was trainer/coach at the Dutch premier division club The Flying Shuttle Barendrecht during the 2018/2019 season.[24]
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