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As a child, I liked to play different type of sport, and I grew up to be an ardent sports fan. I have been watching all sports tournament religiously, especially badminton.
Many people, including those from the BWF, don't really understand what the main problems in badminton are and what it most needs because many officials are not competitors.
I think if people were to look at badminton and tennis, they'd see they're actually very similar; the profile would increase, and we might be in a better position as a sport.
Some smashes have been timed at more than 250 mph, so you get less than a second to react. People who see a professional badminton match up close are always shocked at the speed.
I have to confess I'm addicted to Sky Sports News. Just the music can pull me in. And then whether it's badminton in the Czech Republic, snail pushing or mole hopping, I'm hooked.
Tennis is not always that accessible but I sometimes think badminton is harder - tennis you can always play against the wall but badminton is tough to even play outdoors with the wind.
There's sketch, improv, writing, acting, music, and badminton. Those are the seven forms of comedy. But I do like the idea of being an auteur in the sense of writing and being in your own stuff.
In countries like China and Indonesia, badminton is like a religion. Players get mobbed in the street. In China, it is a national sport, and Lin Dan, their star player, is treated like David Beckham.
Before I turned 30, through a lot of hard work and support, I won many badminton titles. But after turning 30, Lin Dan should change that mindset and start in a new direction and do things that are more meaningful.
Obviously, you need talent to do well in your sport, but I think hard work goes a long way. You need to be lucky within the sport too, though. In badminton, you can benefit from good draws and people getting injured.
Both my parents were amateur badminton players. My father is a scientist and wanted me to be a doctor. But my mom was very aggressive and loved badminton. She pushed me right from the age of nine to take up the sport.
I went to school like any other regular student till Class VIII, and my favourite subject was math. From Class IX, things got a little difficult to manage. I was inclined towards studies, but then I also had to give time to badminton.
What we do is nothing like the portrayal of badminton as a gentle game played in a church hall. Badminton can be fun and relaxing, but as professionals, this sport is our heart and soul and passion, and our games are fast and aggressive.
Despite the fact that every sport this side of badminton worries about concussions that result in brain damage, CTE, the National Hockey League refuses to accept the overwhelming medical science. Good grief - the NHL still permits fights.
I work better under pressure. I was the local badminton champion when I was a kid, and there was another girl who used to thrash me for the five days leading up to the tournament and then I would just nail her to the floor in the competition.
Even though I played national level badminton, I told my parents when I was in 10th that I was not interested in continuing. Being a model or actor fascinated me from a young age, and I even did a couple of ads when I was just eight years old.
Any girl who likes watching movies would like to work in them and would want to do all of that. I'm also one of them. But people know me for badminton and love me for it. So I'd stick to it right now. But maybe after badminton, I'll think about it.
When I was a kid, my parents would play badminton, but I hardly joined them. I'd just pick up their racquets and fiddle around. Check out how the racquet was made... toss it around to see how light it was! At the time, I didn't even know I'd play badminton.
The biggest problem for badminton is wind direction and lighting. If those problems are not solved, it seriously impacts players' performances on the court. If a high-level player's performance is affected by these factors, they suffer setbacks and cannot be fully satisfied on the court.
I've always wanted to be in journalism. I even started a course at Loughborough doing media studies. I like all sports, and I am keen on writing. But I thought that while I was still young, I ought to make a real go of it at badminton. So I have put all my focus on playing sport instead of writing about it.
Don Chew is the owner of the Orange County Badminton Club, the location where I train. He played badminton when he was young and always had the passion for it. He never made it at the international level, but he wanted to give back to the sport. The majority of the elite players train at Orange County Badminton Club.
Unlike most youngsters who have school as their 'second home' where they meet and make friends, for me playtime has been at the Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad. When I am not playing a tournament, my days are spent at the Academy with my coaches, physiotherapists and colleagues, who are like family. We laugh and have so much fun.
In England I played everything - swimming, athletics, football, rugby, badminton, cricket - all of that stuff. I was in the first teams for all the sports at Brighton, played on the wing in rugby, and ran 100m, 200m, 400m, and did long jump and even the javelin at one point. In the States I did a bit of track, but mainly I was there for the boxing.