Rudy Gunawan (; born 31 December 1966) is a former Indonesian badminton player who played between 1980s and 1990s. He is arguably one of the best doubles players ever to play for Indonesia. Rudy Gunawan won various international championships, both in the men's doubles and mixed doubles events. He has paired up with players such as

Eddy Hartono Eddy Hartono Arbie (; born 19 July 1964) is an Indonesian former badminton player who excelled in the late 1980s and early 1990s. After a brief stint competing in singles, he soon became a doubles specialist noted for his deft racket control and ...

Rosiana Tendean Rosiana Tendean (born 25 August 1964) is an Indonesian retired badminton player. Career A doubles specialist, Tendean competed in women’s doubles with Erma Sulistianingsih at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Together, they won consecutive World Gr ...

Bambang Suprianto Bambang Suprianto (born 20 February 1969) is a retired badminton player from Indonesia. Career A durable all around player who won singles at the Singapore Open in 1991, Suprianto's greatest success came in doubles events. In the mid-1990s he ...

, and

Ricky Subagja Ricky Subagja (born 27 January 1971) is a former Indonesian badminton player. He was rated among the greatest doubles specialists in the sport's history. Career In 1993 the fast moving, faster hitting Subagja won men's doubles at the then bienni ...

. He was on the Thomas Cup team of Indonesia five times (1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1996) but only won gold in 1994 and 1996. In addition, he helped strengthen the Indonesian team in the race for

1989 Sudirman Cup The 1989 Sudirman Cup was the first tournament of the World Mixed Team Badminton Championships, the Sudirman Cup. It was held from May 24 to May 29, 1989, in Central Jakarta, Indonesia. Teams 28 teams around the world took part in this tournament ...

. Rudy twice competed in the Summer Olympics. In the 1992 Olympics, Rudy and Eddy won a silver medal following the defeat in the final match to South Korean pair

Park Joo-bong Park Joo-bong (Hangul: 박주봉; Hanja: 朴柱奉; born 5 December 1964) is a former badminton player from South Korea who excelled from the early 1980s through the mid-1990s. Career Park is one of the most successful players ever in the Wor ...

and Kim Moon-soo. In the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, Rudy and Bambang pair lost in the round of 16.

Career

Rudy Gunawan was a member of world champion

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

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 ...

(men's international) teams in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, winning his final round match on both occasions. He won men's doubles at the

1993 IBF World Championships The 1993 IBF World Championships (World Badminton Championships) were held in Birmingham, England in 1993. Venue *National Indoor Arena Medalists Medal table Events External linksBWF Results {{World badminton champs BWF World Champion ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England with

. However, he shared most of his international men's doubles titles with two other fellow countrymen,

and

. These included the prestigious All-England title in 1992 and 1994, the

World Badminton Grand Prix The World Badminton Grand Prix Finals was an annual badminton tournament organized by the International Badminton Federation (IBF) to crown the best badminton player of the year. The tournament only invited the top eight players in the year-end worl ...

in 1990 and 1993, the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

in 1991; as well as the

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 ...

(1989, 1992, 1995),

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

(1989, 1991),

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

(1990),

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

(1991, 1993),

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(1993),

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

(1994), and

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

(1995) Opens. Gunawan was a silver medalist at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona with Eddy Hartono. He also shared a number of international mixed doubles titles, including victories at the

(1990, 1993),

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

(1993),

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

(1993) Opens and

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

for 3 years running (1990 - 1991).

Achievements

Olympic Games

''Men's doubles''

World Championships

''Men's doubles''

World Cup

''Men's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

Asian Games

''Men's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

Asian Cup

''Men's doubles''

Southeast Asian Games

''Men's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

IBF World Grand Prix (19 titles, 19 runners-up)

The World Badminton Grand Prix, sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006. ''Men's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles'' : IBF Grand Prix tournament : IBF Grand Prix Finals tournament

IBF International (1 title, 1 runner-up)

''Men's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

After badminton

Gunawan retired from competitive badminton following the 1996 season, and turned to Christian ministry work in Indonesian villages. In 1999, he went to California for study and received a B.A. degree in theology from Promise Christian University. He is currently serving as a senior pastor in both the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. Although he has retired from the Indonesian badminton team, he has not retired from the sport. As of 2014, he currently is a coach at the Orange County Badminton Club located in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

and is also a coach of the USA national badminton team. Not only does the coach, but he is also a professional player, again making a comeback into professional badminton with partner Ryan Chew. As of 2015 he currently ranked 132 in men's doubles.

Family

Gunawan married to Febijane N. Lumingkewas on 11 December 1992 and have 5 children; 4 boys and 1 girl. His mother, Sally Young, was the daughter of

Fifi Young Fifi Young (12 January 1915 – 5 March 1975) was an Indonesian actress of mixed French and Chinese descent who acted in at least 86 films over her 34-year career. Early life and stage career Young was born with the name Nonie Tan (; Tan Kim Nio) ...

an Indonesian actress of mixed French and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

and

Njoo Cheong Seng Njoo Cheong Seng (Perfected Spelling: Nyoo Cheong Seng; ; 6 November 1902 – 30 November 1962) was a Chinese-Indonesian playwright and film director. Also known by the pen name Monsieur d'Amour, he wrote more than 200 short storie ...

Chinese-Indonesian Chinese Indonesians ( id, Orang Tionghoa Indonesia) and colloquially Chindo or just Tionghoa are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries. Chinese people and their Indonesian descendants have l ...

playwright and film director.

References

External links

* * *
Miracle Center USA

YouTube - Miracle Center USA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunawan, Rudy 1966 births Living people People from Surakarta Sportspeople from Central Java Indonesian people of Chinese descent Indonesian male badminton players Badminton players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of Indonesia Olympic silver medalists for Indonesia Olympic medalists in badminton Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 1990 Asian Games Badminton players at the 1994 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Indonesia Asian Games bronze medalists for Indonesia Asian Games medalists in badminton Medalists at the 1990 Asian Games Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Competitors at the 1989 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 1991 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 1993 Southeast Asian Games Southeast Asian Games gold medalists for Indonesia Southeast Asian Games silver medalists for Indonesia Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists for Indonesia Southeast Asian Games medalists in badminton World No. 1 badminton players Indonesian emigrants to the United States American people of Chinese-Indonesian descent Sportspeople from Los Angeles Sportspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area American male badminton players American religious leaders