Utami Kinard

Utami Dewi Kinard
Personal information
Country	Indonesia
Born	(1951-06-16)June 16, 1951 Surabaya, Indonesia
Handedness	Right

Utami Dewi Kinard (born 16 June 1951) is a former world-class badminton player who was considered Indonesia's #1 Women's Singles player in the 1970s, and became the United States' #1 player in 1981^[1] after marrying former 6 time U.S. Men's Singles Champion,^[2] Chris Kinard. She is also the sister of 8 time All-England Singles Champion, Rudy Hartono.

Badminton career

Born in Surabaya, Indonesia in 1951, Utami Dewi was the #1 Indonesian Ladies Singles player from 1971 to 1975. She played singles for the Indonesian Uber Cup teams of 1969, 1972, and 1975 (competitions then held every 3 years). The 1975 team was Indonesia's first to win the Women's World Team Championship. As Mrs. Utami Kinard she ended her career as the #1 U.S. Women's Singles player in 1981 representing the U.S. as the #1 player on the 1981 U.S. Uber Cup team.

Along with her Indonesian and U.S. titles, Utami Dewi won the Asian Badminton Singles Championship in 1971, the Australian Open Singles Championship in 1975, the Mexican Open Mixed Doubles Championship in 1979, and the South African Singles Championship in 1980.

Additional badminton career highlights

1972 - Munich Olympics - Won the Silver medal in badminton women's singles (badminton was a demonstration sport).^[3]

1975 - All-England Badminton Championship -Reached the semi-finals of the women's singles.

Represented either Indonesia, or the U.S., or both internationally in the following countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand

Awards in badminton

In 1981, she was in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd"^[4]

Major achievements in badminton

References