Zhang battles fund crunch, lack of training to pursue badminton dream

"I can't afford my coach travelling with me," says India Open defending champion Zhang Beiwen, who had to switch her nationality twice to pursue her badminton dreams.

Zhang originally hails from Liaoning, China but changed nationality to become a Singaporean at the age of 13 and went on to win a team bronze at the 2009 Southeast Asian Games.

After a fallout with Singapore authorities, she adopted US nationality in 2013 and has been playing for that country in international circuit ever since.

However, she said she has not got any help from the US national badminton federation and has to rely on self-funding and prize money from competitions.

"I have just one sponsor from Hong Kong who pays for my coach's salary," said Zhang who is currently ranked 12 in the world. She was in top-10 last year.

The 28-year-old, who had to crowd-fund her trip to World Championship last year, said she does not get enough training in US where badminton is not a big sport.

"The best choice for me is training in Singapore but sometimes I am out of choice. I don't get time to train much, may be I train for one and half hour every day when I am in Singapore and sometimes even less."