Sze Yu (born 30 September 1962) 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.^[1]

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 施羽
Personal information
Country	Hong Kong (1982–84)  Australia (1986–89)
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Years active	1980–1989
Handedness	right
Medal record Representing  Australia Commonwealth Games 1986 Scotland Men's Singles 1986 Scotland Mixed Team

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 (which at that time was completely made up of Chinese Indonesians).^[2] 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.^[3]

In 1979, the Sze family settled in British Hong Kong and Sze Yu soon distinguished himself as the top player in the territory.^[4] In September 1983, his family immigrated to Australia for his education.^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[7] He did play at the 1988 Thomas Cup for Team Australia, coached by his father.^[8]

IBF World Grand Prix

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006.

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
1984	Swedish Open	Jens Peter Nierhoff	3–15, 15–10, 12–15	Runner-up
1985	Scottish Open	Torben Carlsen	8–15, 15–3, 15–13	Winner
1985	World Grand Prix Finals	Han Jian	6–15, 3–15	Runner-up
1986	Chinese Taipei Open	Icuk Sugiarto	4–15, 17–14, 15–5	Winner
1986	Indonesia Open	Icuk Sugiarto	6–15, 6–15	Runner-up
1986	Carlton Inter-sport Cup	Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen	15–2, 14–17, 11–15	Runner-up
1986	English Masters	Morten Frost	8–15, 5–15	Runner-up
1987	Carlton Inter-sport Cup	Nick Yates	11–15, 15–6, 15–10	Winner
1988	Canada Open	Steve Butler	15–7, 10–15, 5–15	Runner-up
1988	U.S. Open	Lius Pongoh	11–15, 15–5, 17–16	Winner

Team Competitions

Country Represented	Year	Event	Team	Rank
Hong Kong	1982	Asian Games	Men's team
	1982	Commonwealth Games	Mixed team
	1984	Thomas Cup	Men's team	Qualification round
Australia	1986	Commonwealth Games	Mixed team	3
	1988	Thomas Cup	Men's team	Qualification round
	1989	Sudirman Cup	Mixed team	16

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,^[9] 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.^[10] 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.^[1]

Today, Sze is still active in television, mostly in mainland China.

Filmography

References

External links

• (in Chinese) Sze Yu on Sina Weibo