Sze Yu


Sze Yu is a Chinese-born Australian actor, television presenter and retired badminton player.
As a badminton player, he represented both Hong Kong and Australia. In the 1980s, he was one of the top players in the world.
He started his acting career in Taiwan, while still a badminton player. He has since acted in over 60 TV dramas in Taiwan and mainland China.

Athletic career

Sze Yu's father Sze Ning On was a Chinese Indonesian badminton player who in 1955 arrived in China to play for the China national badminton team. He married Sze Yu's mother, a teacher at the Central Academy of Drama, in Beijing, later moving the family to Shanghai where Sze Yu was born. Sze Yu started seriously playing his father's sport at age 9.
In 1979, the Sze family settled in British Hong Kong and Sze Yu soon distinguished himself as the top player in the territory. In September 1983, his family immigrated to Australia for his education. Despite having become an Australian citizen, Sze still represented Hong Kong in the 1984 Thomas Cup as he hadn't met the 2-year residency requirement to represent Australia.
Representing Australia, Sze received 2 medals at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. He was also named to the Australian 1986 Thomas Cup team but an injury kept him away from the competition. He did play at the 1988 Thomas Cup for Team Australia, coached by his father.

Individual Achievements

IBF World Grand Prix

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation from 1983 to 2006.
Men's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
1984Swedish Open Jens Peter Nierhoff3–15, 15–10, 12–15 Runner-up
1985Scottish Open Torben Carlsen8–15, 15–3, 15–13 Winner
1985World Grand Prix Finals Han Jian6–15, 3–15 Runner-up
1986Chinese Taipei Open Icuk Sugiarto4–15, 17–14, 15–5 Winner
1986Indonesia Open Icuk Sugiarto6–15, 6–15 Runner-up
1986Carlton Inter-sport Cup Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen15–2, 14–17, 11–15 Runner-up
1986English Masters Morten Frost8–15, 5–15 Runner-up
1987Carlton Inter-sport Cup Nick Yates11–15, 15–6, 15–10 Winner
1988Canada Open Steve Butler15–7, 10–15, 5–15 Runner-up
1988U.S. Open Lius Pongoh11–15, 15–5, 17–16 Winner

Team Competitions

Acting career

In 1989, while nursing an injury in Taipei, Taiwan, where his father took over the Chinese Taipei national badminton team a year prior, Sze Yu was invited by Liu Li-li, a television director, to participate in her TV drama Wanjun, written by the creator Chiung Yao. Liu was taking a team from Chinese Television System to Beijing to create the first-ever Taiwanese TV drama filmed in mainland China. Under the encouragement of his mother, a Beijing native, Sze took on the supporting role of Zhou Shuhao. The series proved massively popular throughout the Chinese-speaking world, and Sze, after winning the Australian International in the same year, decided to retire to pursue an acting career.
Today, Sze is still active in television, mostly in mainland China.

Filmography

Film

TV dramas