Huaiwen Xu

Huaiwen Xu
Personal information
Birth name	徐懷雯
Country	Germany
Born	(1975-08-02) 2 August 1975 (age 46) Guiyang, Guizhou, China
Height	160 cm (5 ft 3 in)
Handedness	Right
Event	Women's singles
Medal record Women's badminton Representing  Germany World Championships 2005 Anaheim Women's singles 2006 Madrid Women's singles Uber Cup 2008 Jakarta Women's team European Championships 2006 Den Bosch Women's singles 2008 Herning Women's singles European Women's Team Championships 2008 Almere Women's team 2006 Thessalonica Women's team

Huaiwen Xu (simplified Chinese: 徐怀雯; traditional Chinese: 徐懷雯; pinyin: Xú Huáiwén; born 2 August 1975) is a German badminton player. Born in Guiyang, Guizhou, China, she decided to play for Germany because the Chinese thought that she was too short to play professional world badminton.^[1]

Career[]

Xu was among the most successful of a number of Chinese-born female players who emigrated from their badminton-rich homeland, in part, for a better opportunity to play in the world's biggest events. Beginning in 2003 when she won a spate of middle tier open tournaments in Europe, Xu went on to become one of the more consistent performers on the international circuit. She was a women's singles bronze medalist twice at the BWF World Championships (2005 and 2006) and won European Championships in 2006 and 2008 over Mia Audina and Tine Rasmussen respectively in the finals.^[2][3] At the 2008 Beijing Olympics Xu was eliminated in a close quarterfinal match by China's Xie Xingfang, the world's number one ranked player.

Among Xu's more than twenty national and international singles titles are the Scottish (2003), Polish (2003), Dutch (2005), and Swiss (2006) Opens, the Copenhagen Masters (2007), and five consecutive (2004–2008) German National Championships. Notably, she earned all of these titles after turning 27, an age at which world level singles players often feel that their best years are behind them.

Xu retired from playing on the international circuit in 2009 and worked as a coach for two years at the Bellevue Badminton Club near Seattle, teaching the Junior National team of young badminton players hoping to succeed in professional badminton. In 2010, she was appointed as an International Olympic Committee athlete role model for the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. From 2011 to 2012, she served the Dutch Badminton Association as their National Coach.

Personal life[]

Xu speaks fluent Chinese, German and English.^[1] She is married to Matthew Curtain, the Director of Sport of the Commonwealth Games Federation. The couple has a daughter.

Achievements[]

World Championships[]

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2006	Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid, Madrid, Spain	Xie Xingfang	12–21, 10–21	Bronze
2005	Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, United States	Zhang Ning	7–11, 9–11	Bronze

European Championships[]

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2008	Messecenter Herning, Herning, Denmark	Tine Rasmussen	12–21, 21–12, 21–17	Gold
2006	Maaspoort Sports and Events, Den Bosch, Netherlands	Mia Audina Tjiptawan	15–21, 21–9, 21–16	Gold

BWF Grand Prix[]

The BWF Grand Prix has two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. The World Badminton Grand Prix has been sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation since 1983.

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
	Russian Open	Wang Yihan	17–21, 21–16, 19–21	Runner-up
2007	German Open	Xie Xingfang	21–19, 12–21, 19–21	Runner-up

  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

  BWF Grand Prix tournament

World Grand Prix[]

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2006	Bitburger Open	Maria Kristin Yulianti	21–17, 21–17	Winner
2006	Swiss Open	Zhu Lin	11–9, 11–4	Winner
2005	Dutch Open	Yao Jie	11–7, 11–2	Winner
2005	Bitburger Open	Xing Aiying	11–3, 11–2	Winner
2005	Thessaloniki World Grand Prix	Juliane Schenk	11–2, 11–5	Winner
2005	Swiss Open	Pi Hongyan	12–13, 6–11	Runner-up
2004	German Open	Xie Xingfang	11–9, 6–11, 7–11	Runner-up
1997	Vietnam Open	Susi Susanti	4–11, 1–11	Runner-up
1994	US Open		11–8, 5–11, 6–11	Runner-up

International Challenge/Series[]

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2008	White Nights	Juliane Schenk	21–15, 15–21, 21–19	Winner
2005	Belgian International	Juliane Schenk	11–4, 11–1	Winner
2004	Bitburger Open	Petra Overzier	11–4, 11–2	Winner
2003	Bitburger Open	Pi Hongyan	11–3, 11–2	Winner
2003	Scottish International		11–4, 11–5	Winner
2003	Spanish International	Petra Overzier	11–4, 11–5	Winner
2003	Giraldilla International	Yuki Shimada	11–4, 11–7	Winner
2003	Austrian Open	Petya Nedelcheva	11–7, 11–1	Winner
2003	Finnish Open	Petya Nedelcheva	11–6, 8–11, 11–5	Winner
2003	Polish Open	Kelly Morgan	11–5, 9–11, 11–3	Winner
2002	BMW Open International	Pi Hongyan	9–11, 1–11	Runner-up
2001	BMW Open International	Pi Hongyan	4–7, 7–3, 2–7, 3–7	Runner-up
2000	BMW Open International	Judith Meulendijks	11–4, 11–5	Winner
2000	Le Volant d'Or de Toulouse	Elena Nozdran	11–4, 8–11, 11–4	Winner

Record against selected opponents[]

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists.

References[]

External links[]

• BWF player profile