Mitchel Arthur Wongsodikromo (born 26 August 1985) is a Surinamesebadminton player and coach. He competed for Suriname at three Pan Am Games: 2003 Pan American Games, 2007 Pan American Games & the 2011 Pan American Games. As a very young badminton player of the club T.N.F. (Tan Na Fesi) in Suriname Mitchel Wongsodikromo was an exceptional talent and won numerous juniors titles and was soon selected to represent his country abroad winning several juniors medals at Caribbean, Central American and South American events. Much of his success was with his doubles partner Virgil Soeroredjo.
Multiple Caribbean and Pan Am Juniors Badminton Champion
Together they grew up to become a badminton force for Suriname in the Pan Am region. Already in 1997 Mitchel Wongsodikromo participated in the Surinamese U-19 juniors team event winning a Silver medal in Barbados. Also in 1997 Mitchel Wongsodikromo became South American Boys Singles U-13 Champion and Boys Doubles U-15 Champion in São Paulo, Brazil also winning a Silver medal in Mixed Doubles U-17. In 1999 Mitchel Wongsodikromo took Gold in the Mixed Doubles U-19 and the Team Event U-19, but also Silver in the Boys Singles & Boys Doubles U-19 categories at the Carebaco Games held in Suriname.
The year 2000 was a top year for the badminton athlete, he participated at the IBF World Academy training camp held in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2000 Mitchel Wongsodikromo won a Gold medal in the Boys Singles U-15 category at the South American Juniors Championships in Argentina. At that event Mitchel also won a Silver medal in the Boys Doubles U-15 category. In the same year 2000 he and Virgil Soeroredjo won the Pan American Boys Doubles U-17 juniors title at Cuba after they had already won the Caribbean Boys Doubles titles U-17 and U-19 the same year at Barbados. At the 2000 Carebaco Games Mitchel Wongsodikromo won five Gold Medals. Winning the triple in the U-19 category plus Boys Doubles in the U-17 category and the U-19 team event for Suriname.
In 2001 Mitchel Wongsodikromo managed to successfully defend four of his five Carebaco juniors titles only losing his singles U-19 title at Jamaica. In 2001 Virgil and Mitchel won Boys Doubles U-17 Gold at the South American Juniors Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Mitchel also took Bronze at the Boys Singles U-17 event and Bronze at the Mixed Doubles U-19 event. That year they also won the Regatas Cup for Boys Doubles U-17 in Lima, Peru. Mitchel again also took two Bronze medals in Peru at the Boys Singles U-17 and Mixed Doubles U-17.
In 2002 Mitchel Wongsodikromo and Virgil Soeroredjo became Pan American Juniors Semi-Champions U-19 in Orange County, USA. At the same event Mitchel Wongsodikromo also took a Bronze Medal in the U-19 Mixed team event, where the Surinamese juniors team surprisingly beat favorites Canada ending on a third place behind USA and Peru, but higher than fourth place Canada and fifth place Brazil. In the 2002 Carebaco Games Mitchel Wongsodikromo won Gold at Men's Doubles U-19 and Silver at the Men's Singles juniors categories at Puerto Rico. In the 2003 Carebaco Games at Trinidad & Tobago Virgil Soeroredjo lost both the U-19 Boys Singles & Mixed Doubles finals to his compatriot Mitchel Wongsodikromo, who took four Gold medals that event. Together they eventually won the Boys Doubles U-19 title and the Carebaco Juniors 2003 team event.
[1]
International & National Achievements
In 2002 they both won a Men's Singles Bronze medal at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games (CACSO Games 2002) in San Salvador. At that time a special achievement since they were both still only 17-year-old juniors. In 2005 at the Carebaco Open Championships Mitchel was part of the Surinamese team achieving a Bronze Medal in the Caribbean Team Event held in Cuba.
Mitchel Wongsodikromo gained five National Men's Singles titles in 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2012.[2] Internationally he was a three times Men's Doubles champion at the Suriname International Badminton Tournament in 2008, 2009 and 2011.[3] He also won the Mixed Doubles title two times at the Suriname International in 2009 and in 2012.
In 2010 Mitchel Wongsodikromo & Virgil Soeroredjo reached the final at the Bill Graham Miami International[4] and in 2011 they reached the semi-final of that same event. In 2011 Mitchel Wongsodikromo won both the Suriname International and the Carebaco International in Men's Doubles. In March 2010 Mitchel Wongsodikromo was also part of the Suriname badminton team that won a Bronze medal Mixed TeamsBadminton at the 2010 South American Games in Medellín. Together with his compatriot Crystal Leefmans another Bronze medal was won by Mitchel Wongsodikromo in the individual Mixed Doubles event. In July 2010 Mitchel Wongsodikromo and Virgil Soeroredjo won the only medal, a Bronze, for Suriname at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games by reaching the semi-finales. In 2012 Mitchel Wongsodikromo was part of the first Suriname Men's badminton team that participated at the Thomas Cup preliminaries in Los Angeles, USA.
