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Richard Vaughan calls out for better handling of situation in Darfur

Badzine International (BZI):  Can you outline for people, who are not familiar with the Darfur crisis, the history behind the conflict and your personal stance on the Chinese involvement or lack of it?

Richard Vaughan:  The crisis in Darfur (which is a Western area of Sudan) began in 2003. The area is about the size of France. Following decades of neglect, drought, oppression and small-scale conflicts in Darfur, two rebel groups mounted a challenge to Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir. These groups represent agrarian farmers who are mostly non-Arab black African Muslims from a number of different tribes. President Al-Bashir's response was brutal. In seeking to defeat the rebel movements, the Government of Sudan increased arms and support to local tribal and other militia. Collectively they have come to be known as the Janjaweed. They are composed of mostly Arab black African Muslims who herd cattle, camels and other livestock. The Janjaweed have wiped out entire villages, destroyed food and water supplies, murdered, tortured and raped thousands of Darfurians. These attacks are directly supported by the Government of Sudan’s armed forces.

As the Thomas Cup Qualifying stage kicks off in Almere, Netherlands, Denmark has set its hopes on a new comer and asked Hans Kristian Vitinghus to join the squad. Badzine’s correspondent Mark Phelan took a closer look at this strong minded player, who has just come back from a bad injury.

Photos, courtesy of Greve badminton Club.

Most of us, in our lifetime, experience injury or pain. We have all had to deal with the frustration of not been able to perform or play the sport we love for extended periods due to injury. But not many of us have had the highs of winning your first international event and then being diagnosed with a tumour of the knee all in a twelve month period. Hans-Kristian Vittinghus has experience all these emotions and for this young man from Denmark it has been a truly trying time.

Malaysia's Choong Tan Fook and China's Zhang Jiewen may be wearing different flags on their shirts, but they should be soon flying under the same name. The Malaysian veteran proposed to Zhang and vowed to marry the top Chinese shuttler after the Olympic Games.

Raphael Sachetat, photo : Badmintonphoto

It was no secret for their close friends and the badminton fraternity, but the fact that Choong Tan Fook finally made this relationship official makes it special, on day one of his home event, the Malaysia Open. The Malaysian proposed to Zhang Jiewen, the top women's doubles shuttler from China, just before the tournament kicked off in Kuala Lumpur. The duo had been dating for a while, since the Malaysia Open in 2004 – exactly 3 years ago, but kept the secret until now. Of course, two players from two different national teams wasn’t an easy situation to deal with and Zhang went against the advice of her coach Li Yongbo, who was quite concerned about this “external” relationship. Yet Zhang held on to her feelings towards Choong and the duo should be getting married sometime after the Olympics.