Sze Yu's father Sze Ning On was a Chinese Indonesian badminton player who in 1955 arrived in China to play for the China national badminton team (which at that time was completely made up of Chinese Indonesians).[2] He married Sze Yu's mother, a teacher at the Central Academy of Drama, in Beijing, later moving the family to Shanghai where Sze Yu was born. Sze Yu started seriously playing his father's sport at age 9.[3]
In 1979, the Sze family settled in British Hong Kong and Sze Yu soon distinguished himself as the top player in the territory.[4] In September 1983, his family immigrated to Australia for his education.[5] Despite having become an Australian citizen, Sze still represented Hong Kong in the 1984 Thomas Cup as he hadn't met the 2-year residency requirement to represent Australia.[6]
Representing Australia, Sze received 2 medals at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. He was also named to the Australian 1986 Thomas Cup team but an injury kept him away from the competition.[7] He did play at the 1988 Thomas Cup for Team Australia, coached by his father.[8]
Individual Achievements
IBF World Grand Prix
The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006.
In 1989, while nursing an injury in Taipei, Taiwan, where his father took over the Chinese Taipei national badminton team a year prior,[9] Sze Yu was invited by Liu Li-li, a television director, to participate in her TV drama Wanjun, written by the creator Chiung Yao. Liu was taking a team from Chinese Television System to Beijing to create the first-ever Taiwanese TV drama filmed in mainland China.[10] Under the encouragement of his mother, a Beijing native, Sze took on the supporting role of Zhou Shuhao. The series proved massively popular throughout the Chinese-speaking world, and Sze, after winning the Australian International in the same year, decided to retire to pursue an acting career.[1]
Today, Sze is still active in television, mostly in mainland China.
