And no one can attest to loving badminton more than Philip George, a Malaysian-born lawyer who has crossed badminton rackets with some of the greats.
Speaking of rackets, GerakBudaya recently published Philip’s autobiography, under the intriguing title of “Racket Boy: Where’s My Country?”
Co-authoring the book with local novelist Geetha K, Philip said the book is about his life, starting as a young Malaysian badminton-lover and concluding with his adventures of recent years.
It was this same life story that the 72-year-old shared with FMT Lifestyle recently when he was in Malaysia for a visit. He currently resides in Italy.
He said his love affair with badminton began when he was just five years old and living in Kajang.
“My father used to take me to watch the Malaysian players practise in Kampung Attap, so I got used to watching all these stars in action. I wanted a piece of that cake and to be a world champion!”
Quite the ambition for a pre-schooler! And even before he entered school proper, Philip practised batting at rubber balls, since he had no shuttlecocks.
His skills were promising enough for a coach at school to enter Philip into a training programme.
“Soon enough, he was playing in multiple competitions, even joining the junior Selangor state squad.” What he didn’t know then was that he’d be playing at the international level come adulthood.
Back then, he said, badminton was considered the national game. “At that time, we were the world champions. Everybody in Europe took us seriously. That was our brand!”
Unfortunately, Philip never got to represent Malaysia internationally. “I left Malaysia when I was 18. I lost that opportunity, so I became a freelance player.”
Despite residing in the UK, his badminton skills still proved to be a “stepping stone” to many opportunities that he would not have otherwise been considered for. Like representing the British bank he was working for once as their “marketing tool”. His employers also sent him to play matches throughout Europe.
“Through badminton, I met a lot of important people who gave me the chance to go into law,” he explained.
Among these “important people” were several world stars, including Tan Aik Quan, Punch Gunalan, Rudy Hartono and Svend Pri. “I’ve even played against the Sidek brothers!”
So, did he get the title of “Racket Boy” from his exploits? Not exactly. “It was originally the name of the first chapter,” said co-author Geetha. “As we went on, the name just caught on.”
According to Geetha, she came to know about Philip in 2021 through a relative. At the time, Philip was already looking to publish a memoir and Geetha happened to be the right writer for the job.
Philip said that he had been encouraged to get his life story down in writing by a neighbour who was intrigued by his tales.
“He had seen me run around, shoot off to Monte Carlo and come back in one day to see the Formula One. He was intrigued by what makes me tick. Where did all this energy come from?” Philip said.
In fact, Philip had been itching to write his life story since 1999. Yet, for some reason or another, the writing never took off.
“Then Covid came along when I was in Italy. I said, ‘Don’t waste a good crisis.’” Stuck at home, he finally turned thoughts into action.
Together with Geetha, he has crafted a piece of work that is detailed and accurate to the truth, with the receipts to back his tales up.
And the message of his memoir? “To do the simple things really well,” he said. “Whatever you do, do your best.”
Get your copy of ‘Racket Boy: Where’s My Country?’ at local bookshops or click here.