UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

Q: Why choose badminton or squash?

A: It’s twice as difficult as tennis (see bottom of this), but the money is nowhere near big enough.

Justine Henin-Hardenne won USD457,500 as the losing finalist of 2006′s Australian Open. For those who didnt know, it’s a tennis tournament. That’s a freakin’ RM1.7 million! And she didn’t even finish the best of 3 set match, retiring against Amelie Mauresmo.

And I am not even talking about the men’s tournament!

I mean, I make it to a final of a tennis Grand Slam, win or lose I can retire already!

If you think that’s impossible, think Michael Chang’s only Grand Slam triumph – the 1989 French Open.

In stark contrast, the world’s most prestigious badminton title, the All England offered less than RM40,000 to the men’s singles champion in 2006.

And the world’s most prestigious squash tournament, the British Open offered less than RM30,000 to the men’s champion.
Gosh, I think my sports list for my kids would look like this already:

1. soccer [KIV]
2. badminton
3. athletics [KIV]
4. squash
5. swimming
6. hockey
7. rugby
8. bowling
   
9. tennis
10. golf

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