[Saba Sports News] According to Canadian media reports, shortly after the men’s singles final of the Indonesia Badminton Open wrapped up, the aroma of roasted suckling pig filled the activity room of a Chinese badminton club in Toronto, Canada. The victory feast, organized voluntarily by the club, was held in honour of young Chinese-Canadian shuttler Victor Lai, who had just claimed the Super 1000 championship trophy. There were no elaborate formalities. Dozens of fellow badminton enthusiasts gathered around a long table to watch a whole suckling pig with crisp, golden-brown skin being brought out, alongside a custom giant cake topped with 21 candles. The young athlete had once again rewritten Canadian badminton history. What many people do not know is that this history-making 21-year-old is actually an amateur player. Unlike other top-tier competitors who received systematic training at professional sports academies from childhood, he immigrated to Canada with his parents, who run a Chinese restaurant in Toronto, and grew up training at a local Chinese community badminton club.
The editor believes that following his victory at the Indonesia Open, Victor Lai has climbed to ninth place in the latest world badminton rankings. For a North American country with a relatively underdeveloped badminton landscape, such a ranking is nothing short of a miracle.