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, Rosiana Tendean, Bambang Suprianto, and Ricky Subagja. 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. Rudy twice competed in the Summer Olympics. In the

1992 Olympics 1992 Olympics may refer to: *1992 Summer Olympics, which were held in Barcelona, Spain *1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 ...

, 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

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 ha ...

(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 sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

and 1996, winning his final round match on both occasions. He won men's doubles at the 1993 IBF World Championships in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, England with Ricky Subagja. However, he shared most of his international men's doubles titles with two other fellow countrymen, Eddy Hartono and Bambang Suprianto. 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 sup ...

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, bor ...

(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 b ...

(1991, 1993), China (1993), Chinese Taipei (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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

(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 Delta i ...

(1993), Polish (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 an Indonesian actress of mixed French and Chinese 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 stori ...

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