USA Badminton’s Tony Gunawan and Howard Bach Crowned World Champions in Anaheim

The unthinkable happened in Anaheim, Calif. Sunday night as USA Badminton’s Tony Gunawan (Fullerton, Calif.) and Howard Bach (San Francisco, Calif.) finished their magical World Championship run in style by winning their final match and earning the title of World Champs.

The No. 13 American men’s doubles team defeated the No. 2 Indonesian team of Candra Wijay and Sigit Budiarto, 15-11, 10-15, 15-11, in the finals of the International Badminton Federation World Championships. Down 11-9 in the final game, Gunawan and Bach would outscore their opponents 6-2 the rest of the away to ensure victory.

The win was the culmination of a history-making week for the duo. Never before had a U.S. doubles team advanced past the quarterfinals nor has the U.S. ever won a medal in the Olympic or World competition in any badminton event, singles or doubles.

To do so, Gunawan and Bach had to defeat the No. 8, No. 1, No. 4 and No.2-ranked teams in the world on successive nights.

For Gunawan, it’s his second world title, having won in 1997 while playing for Indonesia. He’s was also an Olympic gold medalist in 2000 with tonight’s opponent Wijay.