Dr Oon Chong Teik: Shuttlecock and Stethoscope
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Dr Oon Chong Teik: Shuttlecock and Stethoscope The Memoirs of an Extraordinary Sportsman FastCounter by bCentral Oon Chong Teik joined the V.I. from Batu Road School in 1948 and left in September 1954. He considered his time at the V.I. a good learning curve for life for he was a very unpredictable student academically. He could do extremely very well in his exams at times; then do so badly that the Headmaster, Mr F. Daniel, once asked him to leave school! Chong Teik's interests at the V.I. were mainly sporting. He was a middle distance athlete, good enough to be called on to represent Hepponstall House. He even competed in the Selangor Schools sports, winning the under-15 440 yards event with a time of 58 seconds. But his main love was badminton, not least of all because his father was a vice-president of the Selangor Badminton Association and his uncle was none other than the legendary Wong Peng Soon. He represented the V.I. in that sport, winning the 1951 Boys Open Doubles and the 1952 Boys Singles, and captaining the school team. Beyond the school hall other triumphs were also notched, beginning with his capture of the Selangor Schools Singles and Doubles number one titles. In 1953, Chong Teik's expanding badminton prowess brought him, with partner Jennie Lim, the Coronation Mixed Doubles title and the Selangor Junior Doubles title shared with Lai Fook Ying, who was the best non-V.I. player at that time. That same year, at age 16, matched against boys much older than himself, he won the inaugural Malayan schoolboys singles championship. He scraped through his Senior Cambridge exam with a Grade 2, scoring credits in eight subjects but failing badly in Latin (getting almost zero marks) as he never had the interest nor time to study it because of his badminton. This failure was to change his life when he left the V.I. in late 1954 for his A levels at the Perse Boys School in England, where Latin or Greek was needed at that time for university entrance. Chong Teik found, to his horror, that the Latin (and other subjects as well) was of such a high standard that he found it necessary to change his study habits. He learned to be very organized and to work extremely hard and to cut his leisure time to a minimum. Still he found time to play his beloved badminton and to take up boxing, clinching his school's senior boxing championship title for the 9 - 9½ stone category. Chong Teik even found time for lawn tennis, representing Perse Boys in singles and doubles. (If all this was achieved during minimal leisure time, what would he have achieved if he had had all the time?) At any rate, the ultimate reward soon came: Chong Teik passed his A levels exams and proceeded to Downing College, Cambridge University, to read medicine and, subsequently, to do his clinicals at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London. In Europe, his badminton career took off, with Chong Teik playing during vacations and weekends and teaming up with fellow Malayans, Eddie Choong and David Choong, who were All-England champions at that time. He won the British Universities Singles and Men's Doubles many times and captained the Cambridge University squad leading them to victory over rivals Oxford University. He won the Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Dutch, Belgium, French, East German national titles, and many county titles in Great Britain as well. In 1958, after doing well in the World Invitation championship in Glasgow, Chong Teik was invited to join the Malayan Thomas Cup Squad to defend the Thomas Cup which Malaya had held since 1949. The finals were played at the Singapore Badminton Hall. Because of parochial politics, Chong Teik - then ranked the number one Malayan singles player - was not selected for the line-up against the Indonesians who clobbered the Malayans 6-3 to carry away the symbol of world badminton supremacy. Back in England, Chong Teik reached the All-England men’s singles and men’s doubles semi-finals on two occasions, in 1960 and 1962, but the grand prize eluded him. He gave up trying for the title as he was then in his final year in medical school. Still, his last All-England attempt in 1962 turned out to be a revenge of sorts for his being passed over for the 1958 Thomas Cup defence. Unseeded, Chong Teik was drawn against first seed Tan Joe Hock, the Indonesian maestro who had demolished the Malayan Thomas Cuppers Eddie Choong and Teh Kew San four years earlier, and who had been expected to meet Erland Kops in the All-England finals. Chong Teik spoilt his plans by dispatching Joe Hock in three sets. The All-England crowd gave a standing ovation for this giant killer. In 1963, as Malaysian delegate to the International Badminton Federation, he helped to legalise the wood shot ruling after a hard battle against the western nations. (Previously, any stroke hit on the frame of the racket was a fault). The rule still stands till today. Chong Teik worked ten years in England and passed his higher degree in Internal Medicine and Tropical Diseases. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, as well as Australia. At present Chong Teik practises at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, Singapore, as a specialist in these two fields. He has written papers on malaria, scrub typhus, rabies in the local journals and recently for the World Health Organisation in the management of dengue fever. He is also Singapore secretary to the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. The sportsman in him keeps Chong Teik going. He is a former Vice- President of the Singapore Badminton Association. Wielding a different kind of racket, he was a Grade B squash player as well. He has run 13 marathons in all, with a best time of 3 hours 53 mins. He was medical director of the Mobil International Marathon and for the Singapore International Triathlon, advising athletes in training diet and fluid requirements. Chong Teik was also the top senior men’s triathlete in Singapore till 1992. Chong Teik has two sons, Zhi Hao and Zhi Hong. Both play badminton and captained their public school in England (Kings Canterbury). Zhi Hong was a Singapore ex-national badminton trainee, and is now in the Singapore Triathlon Squad. Both have completed their national service with the Singapore Armed Forces. Zhi Hao was a sergeant in military intelligence, now reading medicine in Chong Teik's old teaching hospital at St Bartholomew's. Zhi Hong was an officer and instructor in jungle survival, and is now reading Integrative Medicine in Salford, England. Below Chong Teik recalls his VI days, his badminton career, his famous Uncle Wong Peng Soon and other badminton personalities from the days when Malaya truly ruled the badminton world: My V.I. Days y father, Oon Khye Beng, studied at the Penang Free School where he won a Queen's Scholarship and went to Cambridge University to read Engineering at Downing College. This was the same college where all his three sons were to go to later to read medicine and where all three also became Cambridge Badminton Captains. There, I reached the semi-finals for mens singles, and mens doubles twice, while Chong Jin got to the finals of the mens doubles once and the quarter finals for mens singles. Chong Hau, my youngest brother, got to the mens singles semi-finals once. My father wasn't a great sportsman, he was a social badminton player, and represented his college in hockey. Incidentally, a few months ago I met a very distinguished old Victorian Chief Justice Yong Pung How, at our Downing College reunion in Singapore. We had lived along the same road, Ampang Road, in the old days. I was very surprised when Justice Yong said he remembered me! He also remembered my father very well, my father was his first client. I was especially very relieved to hear the Chief Justice say "... and he paid me too"! My father was very loyal to his old College, and gave him support! My mother studied only till Senior Cambridge as in her family further education was the priority of the sons. Being the son of a Queen's Scholar at V.I. was a difficult burden for me to carry at that time, looking at it now I was a late developer! I think I am still developing as most of my peers in my time have now retired. Many of the V.I. teachers knew about my father, and I was on the receiving end of it in class with my inconsistent academic record. I was harassed by teachers like Mr Yap Swee Kee, and Mr S. Murugesu. Most of it was verbal, but there were a lot of knocks from Swee Kee which I took without flinching. He did not know I had a high pain threshold!! I know he meant well, and understood his frustration with a very, very slow student. I do not bear any ill-feelings, and he helped me later to understand and develop patience and compassion to others who are not able to comprehend things which we happen to know. When I did very badly in the Standard Five final exams, Mr F. Daniel wanted to expel me. My father appealed to him to give me a chance and to retain me for another year. He undertook to ensure that I studied that following year.