Ong Poh Lim (; 18 November 1923 – 17 April 2003) was a
Malayan/Singaporean badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...
player who had won numerous national and international titles from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. Known for his quickness and his aggressive, unorthodox playing style, Ong won many singles and doubles titles, including the Singapore, Malayan, All-England, French, Danish and Thomas Cup championships in the 1940s and 1950s. He also invented the backhand flick serve known as the “crocodile serve”, a tactic that had been routinely used in the modern game.
Ong was a keen rival to badminton legend
Wong Peng Soon
Wong Peng Soon, (; 17 February 1917 – 22 May 1996) was a Malayan/Singaporean badminton player who reigned as a top player in Malaya from the 1930s to the 1950s when it was a single nation. Noted for his smooth but powerful strokes and gra ...
.
Early life
Ong was born on 18 November 1923, in Kuching, Sarawak. He was the son of Mr Ong and Mrs Ong Kheng Hong.
[Ho Ah Chon, ''Badminton 1952-1964'' (The Author, Kuching, Sarawak, 1992) 1 - 5.]
Ong, then a student of St. Thomas's School, Kuching, took a serious interest in badminton only after the visit of two Singapore badminton champions
Leow Kim Fatt and
Yap Chin Tee to Kuching in 1937. In June 1947, he went to Singapore to work as well as looking for opportunity to improve his attacking game. He was greatly assisted by Yap Chin Tee, a former high level player in Singapore.
Badminton career
Ong excelled in badminton during his school days and held the Sarawak singles and doubles titles from 1938 to 1941. He moved to Singapore after World War II, where he played for Marigold Badminton Party, a well-established rival to Mayflower Badminton Party, which produced
Wong Peng Soon
Wong Peng Soon, (; 17 February 1917 – 22 May 1996) was a Malayan/Singaporean badminton player who reigned as a top player in Malaya from the 1930s to the 1950s when it was a single nation. Noted for his smooth but powerful strokes and gra ...
and a number of other prominent badminton players of that era.
Ong won the
Singapore Open men's singles title four times from 1952 to 1955 and the men's doubles title nine times with seven in consecutive years from 1950 to 1956 with
Ismail Marjan
Ismail bin Marjan (7 June 1920 – 25 January 1991) was a badminton player from British Malaya, Malaya/Singapore who had won many individual and doubles titles at local, regional and international competitions throughout the 1940s and 1950 ...
.
He also created history by capturing the
Singapore Open singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles over three consecutive years, from 1952 to 1954.
Ong held the
Malaysia Open men's singles title two times in 1954 and 1956, the men's doubles title four times in 1950, 1953, 1956 with
Ismail Marjan
Ismail bin Marjan (7 June 1920 – 25 January 1991) was a badminton player from British Malaya, Malaya/Singapore who had won many individual and doubles titles at local, regional and international competitions throughout the 1940s and 1950 ...
and in 1955 with
Ooi Teik Hock.
[Leo Suryadinata ed., ''Southeast Asian Personalities Of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary '' (ISEAS, Singapore, 2012) 841 - 843.]
Ong also won many international titles in his tour of Europe and US. He won both the
Irish Open men's singles and men's doubles titles in 1949 with
Lim Kee Fong
Lim or LIM may refer to:
Name
* Lim (Korean surname), a common Korean surname
* Lim (Chinese surname), Hokkien, Hakka, Teochew and Hainanese spelling of the Chinese family name "Lin"
* Liza Lim (born 1966), Australian classical composer
Abbrevi ...
.
He won the
Denmark Open
The Denmark Open, or formerly known as Danish Open, is an annual badminton tournament held in Denmark and organized by Badminton Denmark.
The Denmark Open was part of the BWF Super Series Premier from 2011 to 2017. BWF categorised it as one of ...
men's doubles titles in 1951 and 1952 with
Ismail Marjan
Ismail bin Marjan (7 June 1920 – 25 January 1991) was a badminton player from British Malaya, Malaya/Singapore who had won many individual and doubles titles at local, regional and international competitions throughout the 1940s and 1950 ...
.
He also won the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
men's singles and men's doubles titles in 1951, again with
Ismail Marjan
Ismail bin Marjan (7 June 1920 – 25 January 1991) was a badminton player from British Malaya, Malaya/Singapore who had won many individual and doubles titles at local, regional and international competitions throughout the 1940s and 1950 ...
.
Ong shared the
All-England
The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the Badminton World Federation, BWF's latest grading system, it was given BWF Super Series, Super Series st ...
men's doubles title in 1954 with
Ooi Teik Hock, having previously reached the finals of both singles and doubles at the All-England in 1951.
[Herbert Scheele ed., The ''International Badminton Federation Handbook for 1967'' (Canterbury, Kent, England: J. A. Jennings Ltd., 1967) 166 - 168.] As a pair, they also won the
US Open men's doubles title in the same calendar year (1954).
Ong played on three consecutive world champion Malayan
Thomas Cup
The Thomas Cup, sometimes called the World Men's Team Championships, is an international badminton competition among teams representing member nations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport's global governing body. The championships h ...
teams (
1949
Events
January
* January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022.
* January 2 – Luis ...
,
1952
Events January–February
* January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
* February 6
** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...
,
1955
Events January
* January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.
* January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.
* January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...
) and won all of his individual matches in these contests. In the latter part of his career he represented Singapore in international competition.
After his retirement, Ong took on coaching roles in Malaysia (1976), Iran (1978) and the Philippines (1980). Ong is credited for having trained
Lee Kin Tat
Dr. Lee Kin Tat (born 1939) is a Malayan-born Singaporean former badminton player who won numerous international singles titles from the late 1950s to the late 1960s, including the open championships of Belgium, France, Ireland, Scotland, and ...
, who reached the semi-finals of the All-England in 1964 and 1966; and the two-time All-England champion of 1965 and 1967,
Tan Yee Khan
Dato' Tan Yee Khan (; born 24 September 1940) is a former Malaysian badminton player who represented his country in badminton events around the world during the 1960s.
Career
Though capable of high level singles (he won Japan's "World Invi ...
.
Ong's famous crocodile serve apparently came about by accident. He had a slight limp and he compensated this by "wiggling his behind, a little like
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
" (in his own words) before executing a quick back-hand flick serve to fool his opponents. And he did all these naturally. Because he was originally from Sarawak where the rivers were infested with crocodiles, a British journalist coined his peculiar serve after them.
Personal life
Ong, remained a bachelor for his whole life and he lived alone at Sennett Close.
Besides badminton, Ong was also interested in antiques. He was a keen philatelist and amassed an extensive collection of rare and unusual stamps from all over the world, including those from
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
,
Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
,
Brunei
Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...
and the
Straits Settlements
The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...
.
Death
On 16 April 2003, SSC officials discovered Ong at his home, where he had suffered a bad fall and had been unattended for several days. He was taken to Changi General Hospital, where he died on 17 April. He was 79 years old. His funeral was attended by officials from the SSC and the
Singapore Badminton Association
Singapore Badminton Association (abbreviation: SBA) is the national governing body for badminton in Singapore. It governs, encourages and develops the sport throughout the country.
Founded in 1929, the SBA is an affiliate of the Singapore Nat ...
(SBA). He was buried at Choa Chu Kang Christian Cemetery.
Awards
In 1953, Ong was voted as the 1952 Sportsman of the Year by the readers of Singapore Free Press.
In 1986, Ong was inducted into the
Singapore Sports Council
Sport Singapore (SportSG) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth of the Government of Singapore. It is the lead agency tasked with developing a holistic sports culture for the nation.
History
Sport Singapore was ...
(SSC) Sports Museum Hall of Fame. In 1996, he received a Meritorious Service Award from the
International Badminton Federation
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine member ...
(IBF) for his significant contribution to the growth of world badminton.
Ong was also inducted into the
World Badminton Hall of Fame in 1998 as well as the
Olympic Council of Malaysia
Olympic Council of Malaysia, or commonly OCM or MOM, ( ms, Majlis Olimpik Malaysia, IOC code: MAS) is the National Olympic Committee representing Malaysia. It is also the body responsible for Malaysia's representation at the Commonwealth Games.
H ...
’s Hall of Fame in 2004.
Achievements
International tournaments
''Men's doubles''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ong, Poh Lim
1923 births
2003 deaths
People from Kuching
Malaysian male badminton players
Singaporean male badminton players
Malaysian sportspeople of Chinese descent
Singaporean sportspeople of Chinese descent