Chan (left) and Bruni with their medal haul from the BWF World Senior Badminton Championships 2025 in Thailand.
Old and new faces, singer DJ Dave take to the courts at world championships in Pattaya
VETERAN Malaysian shuttlers delivered a strong performance at BWF World Senior Badminton Championships 2025, securing a nine-medal haul of two gold, two silver and five bronze.
Leading the way was Bruni Garip from Sarawak who topped the Men’s Singles (MS) 70 category after defeating Jesper Helledie from Denmark 21-17, 22-20 in a gruelling final.
Meanwhile, Penangite Ooi Swee Khoon delivered the second gold in the MS40 category after edging out top-seeded Japanese player D. Hanamoto in a thrilling 58-minute rubber set with a 21-13, 15-21, 22-20 victory.
Held in Pattaya, Thailand, this biennial championship attracted a record 1,700 participants from 54 countries.
Notable names included Indonesia’s Hendra Setiawan and Tony Gunawan, Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana, Malaysia’s Ong Ewe Hock, Denmark’s Helledie and a host of top players from around the world.
About 70 Malaysians participated in the tourney across various categories.
Meanwhile, in the MS80 category, Leong Kim Swee managed a silver medal after losing to Roger Baldwin from England 15-21, 15-21.
He went on to partner Ching Kon Kong in the Men’s Doubles (MD) 80 category but the home ground proved favourable to Thailand duo Seri Chintanaseri and Pirachitra Surakkhaka who beat the Malaysian pair 16-21, 21-13, 15-21.
Former corporate and investment banker Chan Wan Seong, a seasoned shuttler in international tournaments, partnered Bruni to win bronze in the MD70 category.
This was Chan’s third medal at the BWF World Senior Championships after winning bronze in the MS60 category consecutively in 2015 and 2017.
Chan also participated in the MS70 category but was eliminated in the third round by a seeded player from Germany.
This year’s BWF World Senior Championships, he said, was the most competitive with many entries, including former national, international and Thomas Cup players in almost all age-categories.
“Any player who could win even a bronze medal should feel satisfied as this could be considered a lifetime achievement.
“I was pleasantly surprised to win an unexpected bronze medal in MD70 partnering Bruni for the first time.
“We only had two practice sessions when Bruni flew in from his hometown in Limbang just before we proceeded to Pattaya for the competition.
“Both of us are primarily singles players and we are not former national players, so to win the MD70 bronze medal at world-level is a welcome ‘bonus’ to my collection of world senior championship medals,” Chan added.
Meanwhile, in the MS60 semifinals, Eric Chang secured bronze after losing to Jan-Eric Antonsson from Sweden 12-21, 10-21, who went on to the final.
Ong (of Thomas Cup fame) and James Goh Cheng Huan put up a commendable fight in a tough MD50 semifinal match against Indonesia’s Harijanto Arbi and Marleve Mainaky, losing 17-21, 21-19, 13-21 and getting bronze.
The other bronze medallists were Lim Chong Sek who lost to Johan Croukamp from South Africa in the MS75 semifinals, and Kah Kok Cheong and Lum Chee Meng who were defeated in straight sets to eventual gold medallists Adi Ariyadi and Eko Hamiseno from Indonesia in the MD50 semifinals
Veteran singer Datuk Irwan Shah Abdullah, aka DJ Dave, reached the quarterfinals of both the MS75 and MD75 events.
In MS75, he lost to the eventual bronze medallist S. Ohras of Sweden in straight sets.
Partnering Lim in MD75, the pair was defeated by an English pair in the quarterfinals.
