Kevin Qi Han (born November 25, 1972) 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 won the bronze medal in the inaugural men's singles competition at the

1995 Pan American Games The 1995 Pan American Games, officially known as the XII Pan American Games () and commonly known as Mar del Plata 1995, were held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, from 12 to 26 March 1995. After 44 years, this was the Pan American Games' first retur ...

, followed by the gold medal four years later in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Manitoba, Canada. He was the first ever American player to captured the World Grand Prix title by winning the 1995

Bulgarian Open The Bulgarian Open (also known as the Victoria Bulgarian Open for sponsorship reasons) was a pro–am minor-Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament, which was part of the Players Tour Championship. The tournament started in 2012 and was ...

in the men's doubles with Thomas Reidy.

Career

Olympics

Han competed in

badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics Badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held at the Goudi Olympic Hall at the Goudi Olympic Complex from 14 August through 21 August. Both men and women competed in their own singles and doubles events and together they competed in a mixed do ...

in men's doubles with partner Howard Bach. They defeated Dorian James and Stewart Carson of

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 ...

in the first round, then were defeated in the round of 16 by

Jens Eriksen Jens Dyrløv Eriksen (born 30 December 1969) is a badminton player from Denmark. He competed in four consecutive Olympic Games from 1996 to 2008, and won a mixed doubles bronze medal in 2004 partnered with Mette Schjoldager. At the World Cham ...

and

Martin Lundgaard Hansen Martin Lundgaard Hansen (born 11 October 1972) is a Danish badminton player. He started his career in badminton as a singles player, and competed in the 1993 IBF World Championships. But as the years went by, he made a choice to play doubles. T ...

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 ...

Pan Am Games

Kevin Han won a bronze medal, a silver medal and two gold medals at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

. In 1995 he won bronze in the inaugural men's singles competition at the

, followed by silver medal in men's doubles with partner Thomas Reidy losing the 1995 Pan Am Games final to Canadians

Anil Kaul Anil Kaul (born 25 December 1964) is a retired male badminton player from Canada, who won the gold medal in the inaugural men's doubles competition at the 1995 Pan American Games. He did so alongside Iain Sydie. A resident of Victoria, Manit ...

& Iain Sydie. He finally won a gold medal at the

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games () or the 13th Pan American Games and commonly known as Winnipeg 1999, were a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Ma ...

in men's singles, beating Canadian Stuart Arthur in the final and also a gold medal in men's doubles with partner Howard Bach at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games, officially the XIV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Santo Domingo 2003, were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the Games was made in the mid-1990 ...

beating the pair from Guatemala

Pedro Alejandro Yang Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

and Erick Anguiano in the final.

Pan Am Badminton Championships

Kevin Han won gold in both singles and doubles at two

Pan Am Badminton Championships The Pan American Badminton Championships is a tournament organized since 1977 by the Badminton Pan America (BPA) to crown the best badminton players in the Americas. The tournament was held every year from 1977 until 1980, then every two years from ...

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

1997 and

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

2001.

National Championships

Kevin Han was first place in seven singles and three doubles U.S. National Badminton Championships. In the 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 & 2002 he took the U.S. National Men's singles titles and in 1996 & 1997 (with Tom Reidy), and in 1999 (with Alex Liang) and also in 2001, 2002 & 2004 (with Howard Bach) he took the Men's doubles U.S. National badminton titles.

References

External links