Chris Kinard (born November 8, 1950, in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

) is an American

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

player who was considered the top U.S. singles player in the 1970s, having been the U.S. # 1 ranked men's singles player for 7 of the decade's 10 years. He is married to former badminton player Utami Kinard.

Badminton career

Kinard won the U.S. Men's Singles Championship 6 times (1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981). and was the #1 U.S. player 7 times (1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981). He was a member of every U.S. National Thomas Cup Team from 1969 to 1982 (competition then held every 3 years). Kinard played #1 singles on the '73, '79, & '82 Thomas Cup Teams. He was also the #1 U.S. Singles player on the 1977 Pan American Team. Along with his U.S. titles, Chris Kinard won the South African Open Doubles Championship in 1971, the South African Open Singles Championship in 1980, the Peruvian Open Singles and Doubles Championship in 1976, the Peruvian Mixed Doubles Championship in 1974, and the Mexican Open Mixed Championship in 1979. Kinard also won the triple crown at the National Collegiate Men's Badminton Championships in 1977 winning the collegiate singles and doubles championships and leading his UCLA team to the national team title.

Additional badminton career highlights

1973 - Kinard was invited by the Indonesian Badminton Association to train with its World Champion team, including individual World Champions

Rudy Hartono Rudy Hartono Kurniawan (born Nio Hap Liang ( zh, s=梁海量, p=Liáng Hǎiliàng, poj=Niô͘ Hái-liâng); 18 August 1949) is an Indonesian former badminton player holding the record of winning the men's singles title at the All-England Champio ...

, Christian Hadinata,

Tjun Tjun Tjun Tjun (; born 4 October 1952) is an Indonesian badminton player. Though a world level singles player early in his career, he became one of the sport's greatest ever doubles specialists. His game was notable for its speed, power, accuracy, an ...

Liem Swie King Liem Swie King (; born 28 February 1956) is an Indonesian badminton player who excelled from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s. He won the All England in 1978, 1979 and 1981. He was one of the world's leading singles players of his era. A w ...

Ade Chandra Ade Chandra ( zh, t=張鑫源; born 4 February 1950) is an Indonesian retired badminton player. Career A doubles specialist of ample bulk by Indonesian standards, he was noted for his power and quick defensive reflexes. With the formidable Chri ...

Johan Wahjudi Johan Wahjudi (; 10 February 1953 – 15 November 2019) was an Indonesian badminton player. Though he played some singles at the international level early in his career, he soon became a doubles specialist noted for his alert and consistent play ...

. 1979 - Kinard was chosen to represent badminton in the made for television event, World Rackets Championships. Other athletes included:

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

(tennis), Marty Hogan (racquetball), Dan Seemiller (table tennis), Sharif Khan (squash). 1980 - Kinard reached the round of 16 in the World Singles Championships held in Jakarta, Indonesia before losing to eventual champion,

. 1980 - Kinard achieved a career high World Singles Ranking of #9 Kinard represented the U.S. in international competition in the following countries:

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

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Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Awards in Badminton

In 1976, he was in Sports Illustrated "Faces in the Crowd" In 1978, he was recipient of the Ken Davidson Sportsmanship Award In 1986, he was inducted into the Cal. State Univ. Los Angeles Athletic Hall of Fame In 2003, he was inducted into the U.S. Badminton Hall of Fame, now Walk of Fame In 2019, he was inducted into the Pasadena Sports Hall of Fame (Pasadena, California)

Major Achievements in Badminton

Titles

Finalist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinard, Chris. American male badminton players 1950 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen