It’s not often that you hear the words badminton and golf spoken in the same sentence.
But that was the case in China earlier this week as former world champion Wang Lin rubbed shoulders with golf’s elite at a promotional event ahead of the WGC-HSBC Champions golf event at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai.
Top 10 players Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy and Francesco Molinari swapped their clubs for badminton rackets as part of title partner HSBC’s attempts to increase the profile of golf in China.
(From left) Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Wang Lin, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson. Photo Credit: Getty/HSBC
HSBC is also Principal Global Partner of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), and title sponsor of the HSBC BWF World Tour and HSBC BWF World Tour Finals.
National hero Wang Lin, a former World No. 1 and 2010 women’s singles world champion, assumed the role of coach as she showed the quintet a thing or two about badminton.
Peter Wong, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive of HSBC said: “What better way to help Chinese fans connect with some of the best (golf) players in the world than to have them try their hands at badminton, a hugely popular sport in China.”
The HSBC BWF World Tour returns to China next month for the Fuzhou China Open, with the year-ending HSBC BWF World Tour Finals taking place in Guangzhou starting December 12.
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