The Postcard.

During my school days, I was a great sports fan. I enjoyed watching all types of sport and subscribed to a malay magazine called Sukan (Sports). I looked forward the center spread and the colorful pictures of my favorite athletes of those days. I was proud of their achievements such as Rabuan Pit, Zulkifli Hamzah, Sidek Brothers, John McEnroe, Marina Chin, Imran Khan, Carl Lewis, Calvin Smith...I could go on and on and on and on and....on...

But sometime in the early 80's everyone went crazy with badminton.

The Sidek brothers, consist of Misbun, Razif and Jailani were the nation pride. They achieved local as well as international recognition. My girlfriends had their pick who were the cutest of the Sidek brothers. In my opinion, Razif was the cutest of the three. Instantly I became a fan of badminton....hehehe....well hell yeah, Razif was cute, alright!

As a fan I brave myself to send my first ever fan mail to the Sidek Brothers. It was in my step mom's office that I used her electric type writer to compose a simple and short message. I think I wrote the first mail to Misbun, to wish him all the best for the up coming Thomas Cup Tournament in England. The second fan mail was to Razif and Jailani who were then, won the All England doubles. I was not expecting any reply since they may be busy with camp and practices. But deep down in my heart I was dying for Razif to reply my fan mail.....

One day to my surprise, I received a post card. It was from Misbun Sidek! I was so excited. When the card arrived he was already in Gloucester, UK competing in 1981 Thomas Cup Championship. I treasured his post card ever since.

Can I bragged about it? Why not? It is not that everyday a Malaysian #1 badminton player reply to your mail. And to top it off it was written and mailed from the UK, hah? How often does it happened to you? It was such an honor to received the postcard reply. That showed how much Misbun appreciated his fans support.

But I wonder, did he bring along my mail with him while he was in England? Hmmmm....

That was the first and last time I ever wrote a fan mail...