Derek Wong (born Wong Zi Liang, traditional Chinese: 黃梓良, 13 January 1989) is a retired 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 p ...

player. Wong is a two-time Olympian, who took part at the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

and

2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

, where he was flag bearer in the latter's Parade of Nations.

Early life

Wong was born on 13 January 1989, in Singapore, to parents

Wong Shoon Keat Wong Shoon Keat (; born 30 April 1957) is a Singaporean former badminton player. He is a former SEA Games gold medalist and a ten-time national champion in two disciplines. Career Wong won Singapore's first-ever badminton gold at the 1983 Sou ...

and Irene Lee. He grew up in a badminton-loving family with three other brothers (Shawn, Jamie and Jason). Both his parents are former national champions and they own a badminton shop at the old Singapore Badminton Hall. Wong started playing badminton, at age 5 when his father took him to the hall to play badminton for the first time. Since then, he would do his school homework at the shop before playing badminton with some friendly uncles in the hall till his parents closed the shop for the day. Wong turned professional in 2008 after consulting with his parents and peers, right after his O-levels.

Career

2011 World Championships

Wong shocked Indonesia's

Taufik Hidayat Taufik Hidayat (born 10 August 1981) is an Indonesian retired badminton player. He is a former World, Olympic, Asian Games, and Asian champion, and the youngest world number one in the men's singles. Hidayat has won the Indonesia Open six tim ...

, a former Olympic champion in the second round of the World Championships. He defeated the Indonesian star 21–17, 21–14 to earn a place in the third round against

Hans-Kristian Vittinghus Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus (born 16 January 1986) is a Danish badminton player. He was a member of the winning Denmark team at the 2016 Thomas Cup in Kunshan, China. Career Junior He won 4 junior national titles, 2 in singles in 2003 ...

of Denmark.

2011 Southeast Asian Games

Wong upset Vietnam's

Nguyễn Tiến Minh Nguyễn Tiến Minh (born February 12, 1983) is a Vietnamese badminton player. His best achievement to date was the bronze medal at the World Championship in 2013. Career Introduced to badminton by his father at the early age of 10, Nguy ...

, then ranked in the world's top 10, at the quarterfinals of the Sea Games. He also came agonisingly close to upsetting the eventual gold medalist,

Simon Santoso Simon Santoso (born 29 July 1985) is an Indonesian former badminton player. He was two-time Southeast Asian Games men's singles champion winning in 2009 and 2011, also featured in Indonesia team that won the men's team title in 2003, 2007, 2009 ...

, in the next round. He led in the early stages of the semifinal match before succumbing to the Indonesian in straight sets.

2012 London Olympics

Wong's Olympic debut ended after a 21–17, 21–14 loss to Jan Ø. Jørgensen in his final Group I match at London's

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500- ...

on 31 July to finish second in the three-man group. "Of course, I wanted to play more games instead of just two. But being in my first Olympics has been a huge experience, and one that I will use for my career," Wong said afterwards. He had earlier beaten Israel's

Misha Zilberman Misha Zilberman ( he, מישה זילברמן, russian: Миша Зильберман; born 30 January 1989) is an Israeli badminton player. He competed for Israel at the 2012, 2016, and 2020 Summer Olympics. He also won a bronze medal at the 20 ...

21–9, 21–15 on 29 July.

2014 Commonwealth Games

Wong advanced to the men's singles final but lost to

Parupalli Kashyap Parupalli Kashyap (born 8 September 1986) is an Indian badminton player. A former World No.6, he trains at Gopichand Badminton Academy. He was awarded the Arjuna Award by the Government of India in 2012. He created history by reaching the q ...

of India 14–21, 21–11, 21–19, winning a silver medal.

2016 Rio Olympics

Wong qualified for the

and was the

Singaporean Singaporeans, or the Singaporean people, refers to citizens or people who identify with the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. Singaporeans of Chinese, Malay, Ind ...

flag bearer. During group play, he finished in second place in his group and did not advance.

Retirement

After the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

, Wong resigned from the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA), thus confirming his retirement from professional badminton. He later joined consulting firm

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

on 26 September 2016, to start his post-badminton career. Wong is also looking to groom the next generation of shuttlers by opening his own badminton academy in the near future.

Personal life

Wong started dating his fellow national shuttler

Vanessa Neo Vanessa Neo Yu Yan (born 19 June 1987) is a Singaporean former badminton player specializing in doubles. She represented Singapore in 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she won a bronze medal in the team competition. Achievements BWF Grand Pri ...

in 2007 when he joined the national squad full-time. They got married in May 2015 and have two children together.

Awards

Wong received the 2013, 2015 and 2017 Meritorious Award from the

Singapore National Olympic Committee The Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) is the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the Republic of Singapore. It was founded in 1947 as the Singapore Olympic and Sports Council (SOSC) before renaming to its cur ...

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

''Men's singles''

Southeast Asian Games

''Men's singles''

BWF International Challenge/Series

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles'' :

BWF International Challenge The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF International Series The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament

References

External links

* * * (2010) * (2014) * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Derek 1989 births Living people Singaporean sportspeople of Chinese descent Singaporean male badminton players Badminton players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of Singapore Badminton players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Badminton players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Singapore Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Singapore Commonwealth Games medallists in badminton Badminton players at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Singapore Competitors at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2009 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2011 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2013 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games Southeast Asian Games silver medalists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games medalists in badminton