Howard Bach (born February 22, 1979) is a Vietnamese-American male badminton player from the United States. He was the 2005 world champion in the men's doubles with Tony Gunawan.
Early life
He was born in Vietnam, Howard Bach came to the U.S. at the age of two, when his father, Cam Sen Bach, emigrated to San Francisco with his family in 1982. From 1991–1993, he attended Marina Middle School in San Francisco. When he was five years old, Howard Bach was brought by his father to the Golden Gate YMCA in San Francisco's Tenderloin District. It was here that over the next 11 years, Howard Bach would be coached by his father in badminton. Bach was a 16-year-old student at Galileo High School when he decided to dedicate himself to the sport of badminton. During his early years, he was also coached and mentored by USA coach of the year, Dick Ng. At age 16, he moved to Colorado Springs to train at the U.S. Olympic Site.
Career
2004 Olympics
Bach competed in badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in men's doubles with partner Kevin Han. They defeated Dorian James and Stewart Carson of South Africa in the first round, then were defeated in the round of 16 by Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard Hansen of Denmark.
2005 World Badminton Championships
From a modest 13th seeded position Howard Bach partnered with Tony Gunawan to win the final of the men's doubles 15–11, 10–15, 15–11, against the Indonesian pair, Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto. Thus winning the United States's first ever gold at the World Championships.
The Championships were held at the Arrowhead Pond arena in Anaheim, California.
2008 Olympics
He partnered with Bob Malaythong in Badminton at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, advancing to the quarterfinals – the furthest any American has ever reached. They were defeated by the Chinese pair, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng.
2012 Olympics
Bach and Tony Gunawan competed in the 2012 London Olympics. They were eliminated during the pool play.
Achievements
World Championships
Men's doubles
World Cup
Men's doubles
Pan American Games
Men's doubles
Mixed doubles
Pan Am Championships
Men's singles
Men's doubles
Mixed doubles
BWF Superseries
The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries levels were Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consisted of twelve tournaments around the world that had been introduced since 2011. Successful players were invited to the Superseries Finals, which were held at the end of each year.
Men's doubles
- BWF Superseries Finals tournament
- BWF Superseries Premier tournament
- BWF Superseries tournament
BWF Grand Prix
The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix was sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation from 1983 to 2006.
Men's doubles
Mixed doubles
- BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament
- BWF & IBF Grand Prix tournament
BWF International Challenge/Series
Men's singles
Men's doubles
Mixed doubles
- BWF International Challenge tournament
- BWF International Series tournament
- BWF Future Series tournament
References
External links
- Howard Bach at BWFBadminton.com
- Howard Bach at BWF.TournamentSoftware.com (archived, alternate link)
- Howard Bach at Orange County Badminton Club at the Wayback Machine (archived November 4, 2014)
- Howard Bach at Olympics.com
- Howard Bach at Olympic.org (archived)
- Howard Bach at Olympedia
- Howard Bach at Team USA (archive April 25, 2023)
