July 31, 2006
I need a tissue...
Feather shortage vexes badminton players
EL MONTE, Calif. (AP) — Among the unsung victims of recent outbreaks of bird flu is the shuttlecock. Chinese geese have been slaughtered by the millions to prevent the spread of the disease, and that has left a shortage of the fine feathers used to make the badminton projectiles.
Only the thickest, heaviest goose feathers from northern China are used to make premium shuttlecocks and sometimes as few as two feathers per goose make the final cut.
But now, shuttlecock makers are having to settle for substandard feathers, and the sport's devotees in Southern California say the birdies they're buying just aren't the same.
"Everybody complains now, 'What's wrong with the shuttle?'" Dan Chien of El Monte said after a practice session at the San Gabriel Valley Badminton Club. "It was goose feather, but now it feels almost like duck."
The sport is popular among some Chinese immigrants in Southern California, and the region is home to many of the best players in the nation.
Now, to my mind that's about like being home to the world's shortest giant, but that's probably just me. Prices have risen 25 percent in recent months, and top of the line shuttlecocks have been going for $25 a dozen as companies compete for limited feathers and players hoard the best birdies.
"If bird flu becomes pandemic, shuttlecock prices could become twofold or threefold higher," said Ahmad Bakar, director of shuttlecock seller Pacific Sports Private Ltd. [...]
Anyway, time to drag out the tiny violin.
Well, I obviously have no culture. I thought they were all made of plastic.
Posted by: Kathy at July 31, 2006 03:04 PMI'm figuring that these guys probably wouldn't look kindly upon the net setup I had when I was young, which was a string tied between two trees.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at July 31, 2006 03:10 PMWe had a fence that divided the back yard from the driveway. It was the perfect height, but it had a gate through which people would pass, inconsiderately, during games. Like Kathy, we only knew plastic birds and we frequently hit them next door or onto the roof.
Posted by: kitchen hand at July 31, 2006 07:11 PMHow any of us ever survived without shuttlecocks constructed of the finest Chinese goose feathers is beyond me.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at August 1, 2006 12:00 PM