HE arrived on the national badminton scene when the sport was at its lowest ebb but looking back, Abdul Rahman Hassan was satisfied with his achievements.
One of Sarawak’s brightest badminton star in the 70s, he was considered an over-achiever, winning the Benson and Hedges Cup singles in 1976 at a young age.
Another notable mark was becoming Selangor Malays doubles champion in 1980, partnering Shamsul Anuar Shamsuddin.
In the MSSM tournament in 1975, he lost in the quarterfinals to eventual winner and national singles champion Bernard Lee.
Yet Abdul Rahman did not go on to achieve glory at the highest level internationally as the country had been in the doldrums where badminton was concerned.
Known for his hard-hitting style at the time when stroke play was the norm, Abdul Rahman broke the domination of stroke specialist Lim Khiok Seng, who was the top state singles player at the time.
Born into a family of mostly badminton players, Abdul Rahman was destined to be involved in badminton in a serious way but if you ask him what made him into a fine player, he would quickly say he owed this to his mentor and former state champion Abang Shukori Temenggong Hj Gobil.
He started picking up the racquet as young as six and at the right age, he was given the opportunity to spar against senior players.
Abang Shukori gave him the most valuable lesson, by bringing him around to play against senior players and this made his transition from a ‘kampung’ player to state-level material.
He learnt from playing against the likes of top players such as Suffian Abu Bakar and his late father Haji Hassan Manan. His father was a state champion in the 50s as well as an ardent golf and tennis player.
Also his alma mater St Joseph School was a top badminton-playing school in the state with teacher-coach Bro Hyacinth getting the best out of the young Abdul Rahman.
Despite coming from a school where there was only one single court in the Tan Sri William Tan hall, Abdul Rahman managed to develop his game at every opportunity.
At the school, Bro Hyacinth further shaped his playing skills. He also did one thing — by hitting the shuttlecock at the wall repeatedly to train his sharpness and power.
“Every afternoon, there were six to eight players all waiting for their turns to play. Bro Hyacinth told me to practise by hitting the wall and this helped my game very much,” Abdul Rahman said.
He played in national competitions from 1974 to 1977, and from 1977 to 1979, he was playing badminton based at UiTM, Shah Alam, becoming college champion.
In 1980, he won the Selangor Malays doubles title and took part in the World Airlines tournament after he joined national airline MAS, playing in places like London, Copenhagen, Colombo and Mauritius.
Unfortunately, in 2008 he was injured and forced to call it quits.
“My time at the top was only three years but I have no regrets. I played badminton at a time in the 70s where Malaysian badminton was at its lowest…until Misbun Sidek lifted the national scene.
“There were no development programmes or projects or implementations, unlike today,” he said.
After hanging up his racquet, he went into coaching on an ad-hoc basis at the Red Crescent hall, Jalan Reservoir, Kuching and was also appointed Sarawak Badminton Association training and development chairman.
Under him and China coach Yang Shi Qiang, the project proved a success as two talents — Sukma singles champion James Chua and Pei Wee Chung — were unearthed. They later went on to become part of the Badminton Association of Malaysia fold.
Abdul Rahman left Sarawak to become district manager in Pontianak, Kalimantan for his employer MAS in 2001.
“If given the chance, I’d love to coach as I believe in my way of producing champions but there must be proper training programmes and implementation.
“I lost faith in today’s badminton for it is all about speed and power…I still prefer the flair, footwork and endurance of the old game, which is not in the modern game today.
“Moreover, I prefer to
develop a new sport — hitmenten, which is an extreme sport with elements of precision, teamwork and team spirit,” he said.
“People might not
take to it but I believe
there are so many good elements in this new invention of mine, inspired after I watched the 2008 Olympic final between Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei.”
Abdul Rahman hopes his brand of badminton will catch fire one day as his aspiration is to create something every Sarawakian can be proud of.
Next week Catherine Lambor
