About Mrs. Huaiwen Xu
Huaiwen Xu is a former Women’s Singles Badminton player She was born in the People’s Republic of China but decided to compete for Germany because the Chinese thought that she was too short to play professional Badminton internationally. Despite this, Huaiwen went on to become one of the world’s most successful athletes of her generation.
Her successes include more than twenty national and international singles titles such as the Scottish, Polish, Dutch and Swiss Opens, the Copenhagen Masters and five consecutive German National Championships. Additionally, Huaiwen was a dual Gold Medallist at the European Championships (2006 & 2008) and a dual Bronze Medallist at the World Championships (2005& 2006). She competed at two Olympic Games (2004 & 2008; 5th placing) and in June 2006, she attained, a world no.1 ranking in women’s singles.
Notably, Huaiwen earned all of these accomplishments after turning 27, an age at which world level singles players often feel that their best years are behind them.
As a result of these athletic achievements for her adopted homeland, she received in 2008 the ‘Silbernes Lorbeerblatt (Silver Leaf)’; the highest sports award recognised by the Federal Republic of Germany as well as being appointed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2010 to serve as the inaugural Badminton Athlete Role Model at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games.
Huaiwen retired from the international circuit in 2009 then worked as a coach in Seattle (USA) for eighteen months. From 2011 – 2012, she served the Dutch Badminton Association as their national coach after-which she spent twelve months in Glasgow working as a Scottish National squad coach.
Insofar as Huaiwen’s professional qualifications are concerned, she holds the following credentials:
- Badminton England Coach Licence; UKCC Level 3 (Highest Accreditation)
- German Badminton Coach Licence; Level A (Highest Accreditation)
- MSc Sport Management, Stirling University (2013 – 2014)
Huaiwen regularly delivers courses and seminars for the Badminton World Federation, Badminton Europe and she is fluent in three languages (English, Chinese and German).
In February 2016, she established the ‘Huaiwen Xu Badminton Academy’.