Howard Bach

Howard Bach
Personal information
Country	United States
Born	(1979-02-22) February 22, 1979 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Residence	Orange, California, United States
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Handedness	Right
Men's doubles
Highest ranking	9 (5 August 2010)
Medal record Men's badminton Representing United States World Championships 2005 Anaheim Men's doubles World Cup 2005 Yiyang Men's doubles Pan American Games 2011 Guadalajara Men's doubles 2007 Rio de Janeiro Mixed doubles 2003 Santo Domingo Men's doubles 2007 Rio de Janeiro Men's doubles 1999 Winnipeg Men's doubles 2011 Guadalajara Mixed doubles Pan Am Championships 2007 Calgary Mixed doubles 2001 Lima Men's doubles 1997 Winnipeg Men's doubles 2007 Calgary Men's doubles 2001 Lima Men's singles
BWF profile

Howard Bach (born February 22, 1979) is a Vietnamese-American male badminton player from the United States. He was the 2005 world champion in the men's doubles with Tony Gunawan.

Early life

He was born in Vietnam, Howard Bach came to the U.S. at the age of two, when his father, Cam Sen Bach, emigrated to San Francisco with his family in 1982. From 1991–1993, he attended Marina Middle School in San Francisco. When he was five years old, Howard Bach was brought by his father to the Golden Gate YMCA in San Francisco's Tenderloin District. It was here that over the next 11 years, Howard Bach would be coached by his father in badminton. Bach was a 16-year-old student at Galileo High School when he decided to dedicate himself to the sport of badminton. During his early years, he was also coached and mentored by USA coach of the year, Dick Ng. At age 16, he moved to Colorado Springs to train at the U.S. Olympic Site.

Career

2004 Olympics

Bach competed in badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in men's doubles with partner Kevin Han. They defeated Dorian James and Stewart Carson of South Africa in the first round, then were defeated in the round of 16 by Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard Hansen of Denmark.

2005 World Badminton Championships

From a modest 13th seeded position Howard Bach partnered with Tony Gunawan to win the final of the men's doubles 15–11, 10–15, 15–11, against the Indonesian pair, Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto. Thus winning the United States's first ever gold at the World Championships.

The Championships were held at the Arrowhead Pond arena in Anaheim, California.

2008 Olympics

He partnered with Bob Malaythong in Badminton at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, advancing to the quarterfinals – the furthest any American has ever reached. They were defeated by the Chinese pair, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng.

2012 Olympics

Bach and Tony Gunawan competed in the 2012 London Olympics. They were eliminated during the pool play.

Achievements

World Championships

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2005	Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, United States	Tony Gunawan	Sigit Budiarto Candra Wijaya	15–11, 10–15, 15–11	Gold

World Cup

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2005	Olympic Park, Yiyang, China	Tony Gunawan	Sigit Budiarto Candra Wijaya	18–21, 9–21	Bronze

Pan American Games

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1999	Winnipeg Convention Centre, Winnipeg, Canada	Mark Manha	Brent Olynyk Iain Sydie	17–15, 8–15, 6–15	Silver
2003	UASD Pavilion, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	Kevin Han	Erick Anguiano Pedro Yang	15–5, 15–3	Gold
2007	Riocentro Sports Complex Pavilion 4B, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Khan Malaythong	Mike Beres William Milroy	20–22, 13–21	Silver
2011	Multipurpose Gymnasium, Guadalajara, Mexico	Tony Gunawan	Halim Ho Sattawat Pongnairat	21–10, 21–14	Gold

Mixed doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2007	Riocentro Sports Complex Pavilion 4B, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Eva Lee	Mike Beres Valerie Loker	21–19, 21–16	Gold
2011	Multipurpose Gymnasium, Guadalajara, Mexico	Paula Lynn Obañana	Toby Ng Grace Gao	11–21, 21–19, 14–21	Bronze

Pan Am Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2001	Lima, Peru	Kevin Han	3–7, 1–7, 8–6	Bronze

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1997	Winnipeg Canoe Club, Winnipeg, Canada	Kevin Han	Mike Edstrom Chris Hales	15–10, 15–7	Gold
2001	Lima, Peru	Kevin Han	Keith Chan William Milroy	7–0, 7–1, 7–3	Gold
2007	Calgary Winter Club, Calgary, Canada	Khan Malaythong	Mike Beres William Milroy	13–21, 19–21	Silver

Mixed doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2007	Calgary Winter Club, Calgary, Canada	Eva Lee	Mike Beres Valerie Loker	21–18, 21–17	Gold

BWF Superseries

The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries levels were Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consisted of twelve tournaments around the world that had been introduced since 2011. Successful players were invited to the Superseries Finals, which were held at the end of each year.

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2010	Singapore Open	Tony Gunawan	Fang Chieh-min Lee Sheng-mu	14–21, 15–21	Runner-up

  BWF Superseries Finals tournament

  BWF Superseries Premier tournament

  BWF Superseries tournament

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix was sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation from 1983 to 2006.

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2002	U.S. Open	Kevin Han	Tony Gunawan Khan Malaythong	15–11, 7–15, 7–15	Runner-up
2004	U.S. Open	Tony Gunawan	Mathias Boe Carsten Mogensen	15–5, 15–7	Winner
2004	Dutch Open	Tony Gunawan	Thomas Laybourn Peter Steffensen	15–8, 15–7	Winner
2007	U.S. Open	Khan Malaythong	Tadashi Ohtsuka Keita Masuda	18–21, 11–21	Runner-up
2008	U.S. Open	Khan Malaythong	Halim Haryanto Raju Rai	21–14, 21–19	Winner
2009	U.S. Open	Tony Gunawan	Jürgen Koch Peter Zauner	21–12, 21–9	Winner
2011	U.S. Open	Tony Gunawan	Ko Sung-hyun Lee Yong-dae	9–21, 19–21	Runner-up

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2007	U.S. Open	Eva Lee	Keita Masuda Miyuki Maeda	21–19, 11–21, 19–21	Runner-up
2009	U.S. Open	Eva Lee	Alvin Lau Jiang Xuelian	21–13, 21–12	Winner

  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

  BWF & IBF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
1998	Miami International	Kevin Han	10–15, 1–15	Runner-up

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1998	Miami International	Kevin Han	Andy Chong Mathew Fogarty	15–5, 15–12	Winner
1998	Slovenian International	Mark Manha	Chris Davies Matthew Hughes	15–3, 15–5	Winner
1998	Guatemala International	Mark Manha	Ryan Miglin Ben Wu	15–6, 15–8	Winner
1998	Mexico International	Mark Manha	Ryan Miglin Ben Wu	Walkover	Winner
1999	Peru International	Mark Manha	Mario Carulla José Antonio Iturriaga	17–14, 15–6	Winner
1999	Jamaica International	Mark Manha	Bobby Milroy William Milroy	15–8, 10–15, 15–11	Winner
1999	Guatemala International	Mark Manha	Bryan Moody Brent Olynyk	15–7, 8–15, 15–12	Winner
2000	Canadian International	Mark Manha	Ma Che Kong Yau Tsz Yuk	15–13, 3–15, 15–17	Runner-up
2000	Peru International	Mark Manha	Ma Che Kong Yau Tsz Yuk	6–15, 6–15	Runner-up
2001	Southern Pan Am Classic	Kevin Han	Tjitte Weistra Pedro Yang	5–7, 7–0, 7–0	Winner
2001	Brazil International	Kevin Han	Guilherme Pardo Ricardo Trevelin	15–5, 15–6	Winner
2003	Guatemala International	Kevin Han	Keita Masuda Tadashi Ohtsuka	6–15, 12–15	Runner-up
2003	Brazil International	Kevin Han	José Antonio Crespo Sergio Llopis	15–6, 11–15, 10–15	Runner-up
2004	Peru International	Kevin Han	Rodrigo Pacheco Guillermo Perea	15–7, 15–11	Winner
2005	SCBA International	Tony Gunawan	Raju Rai Khan Malaythong	1–0 Retired	Winner
2005	U.S. International	Tony Gunawan	Mike Beres William Milroy	15–1, 15–2	Winner
2006	Canadian International	Khan Malaythong	Mike Beres William Milroy	16–21, 21–19, 12–21	Runner-up
2007	Miami Pan Am International	Khan Malaythong	Mike Beres William Milroy	18–21, 19–21	Runner-up
2007	Norwegian International	Khan Malaythong	Mikkel Delbo Larsen Jacob Chemnitz	21–15, 21–11	Winner
2007	Irish International	Khan Malaythong	Michael Fuchs Roman Spitko	21–15, 21–17	Winner
2008	Canadian International	Khan Malaythong	Keishi Kawaguchi Naoki Kawamae	15–21, 15–21	Runner-up
2011	Peru International	Tony Gunawan	Adrian Liu Derrick Ng	21–10, 21–9	Winner
2012	Peru International	Tony Gunawan	Adrian Liu Derrick Ng	13–21, 21–13, 21–9	Winner

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1998	Miami International	Cindy Shi	Andy Chong Barbara McKinley	15–6, 15–11	Winner
2005	U.S. International	Eva Lee	Khan Malaythong Mesinee Mangkalakiri	13–15, 12–15	Runner-up
2006	Canadian International	Eva Lee	William Milroy Tammy Sun	21–19, 21–15	Winner
2007	Miami Pan Am International	Eva Lee	Mike Beres Valerie Loker	17–21, 23–21, 20–22	Runner-up
2007	Irish International	Eva Lee	Wouter Claes Nathalie Descamps	21–10, 21–13	Winner

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series tournament

  BWF Future Series tournament

External links

• Howard Bach at BWFBadminton.com
• Howard Bach at BWF.TournamentSoftware.com (alternate link) (archived)
• Howard Bach at Orange County Badminton Club at the Wayback Machine (archived November 4, 2014)
• Howard Bach at Olympics.com
• Howard Bach at Olympic.org (archived)
• Howard Bach at Olympedia (archive)
• Howard Bach at Team USA (archive April 25, 2023)