Fighting fit

HR professional Stefanie Chua’s competitive spirit propelled her team to win at the Duke-NUS’ Inter-Tertiary Institutes Staff (ITIS) games for badminton.

Tell us more about your recent win at the ITIS games.

I signed up with my colleagues as I enjoy playing badminton. This is our team’s (the NUS team) second consecutive win, and we were feeling the pressure to maintain our ranking.

 

Any teammates from Duke-NUS?

Associate Professor Li Shang from Duke-NUS’ Cancer and Stem Cell Biology programme is on my team. He is a supportive team member who would support the team at matches even when he wasn’t playing.

 

How did you come to join the NUS badminton team?

NUS Health Centre regularly blasts an email to recruit people to represent the university. I wrote to the captain and we arranged for a trial. 

 

Have you always liked badminton?

I started playing at a young age, and went on to represent my polytechnic and university at competitions. I used to train four to five days a week, but now I do so twice or thrice a week. Our team practices every Thursday at NUS Multipurpose Sports Hall. 

 

What other sports are you passionate about?

I enjoy diving, fishing hiking and trekking. I will be making two trips to Nepal over the next six months to do the Langtang Gosaikunda trek and the Everest base camp and Gokyo Lakes trek.

 

What’s your advice for those wishing to pursue a healthy lifestyle?

Stop finding excuses. Be bold and try out new sports. When you find something you enjoy, you will never find it a chore to exercise. After all, we need to be in good health so that we can spend more time with our loved ones and continue to do the things we enjoy. 

 

We heard you are looking for badminton teammates

We are in serious need of female players to represent NUS in various tournaments. We are constantly playing handicapped and have to forfeit all our ladies double tournaments.

 

You’ve heard her – ladies out there, get onboard with Stefanie and help the team move on to score more wins!