Ismail Marjan

Ismail was born on 7 June 1920, in British Malaya. He was the son of Haji Marjan. Ismail began playing badminton at a young age in the local Malay badminton community. He later competed at the junior levels of the Johore Bahru District and Malays' Championships^[4][5] and found success in both the boys' singles and doubles events.^[6][7]

Ismail's involvement in senior competitive badminton began when he joined the Dapat Badminton Party,^[7] winning numerous titles at both local and regional tournaments. Thereafter, he joined the Devonshire Badminton Party^[8] and was nurtured by Coach Yap Che Te. He soon became the "No. 2" singles player in Singapore, behind Wong Peng Soon.^[9]

He began playing doubles with Ong Poh Lim whom he won the 1950 Malaysia Open men's doubles title.^[10] In 1951, Ismail and Ong swept all major tournament titles during an eight-month tour of Europe, including the Danish, French and British doubles titles.^[9] In the All England Badminton Championship of 1951, they made it to the final of the men's doubles but were defeated by Malaysian pair David Choong and Eddy Choong.^[11] In 1952, he became world champion with the team of Malaya in the Thomas Cup^[12] and won his second consecutive Denmark Open men's doubles titles with Ong.^[13] In 1953 and 1956, he again won the Malaysia Open men's doubles titles with Ong.^[14][15] As a pair, they also won seven consecutive Singapore Open men's doubles titles from 1950 to 1956.^[16]

Ismail's doubles partnership with Ong was described by Wong Peng Soon as "the best doubles combination" he had ever seen. In the 1951 French Open men's singles semi-final, Ismail gave Ong a walkover so that the latter would be better rested for his final match against Wong Peng Soon. Ong went on to defeat Wong in the men's singles final as well as winning the men's doubles title with Ismail.^[17]

Ismail's dedication to badminton was laudable as he was still serving as advisor to the F&N Badminton Training Scheme^[18] up to his death. He had helped to coach the national team and the youths in the training scheme for several years.^[19]

Ismail had three sons and five daughters.^[20] Two of his sons, Razali and Hassan, were coaches for Rose Badminton Party in Singapore.^[2] The family lived at a kampong in Jalan Ladang back in the day.^[21]

Ismail died on 25 January 1991 at the Singapore General Hospital due to heart and stomach illness. He was 70 years old. He was buried at Choa Chu Kang Muslim Cemetery.^[2]

Ismail was inducted into the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) Sports Museum Hall of Fame in 1986.^[9]

Men's singles

More information Year, Tournament ...

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
1952	Singapore Open	Ong Poh Lim	Walkover	Runner-up	[22]

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Men's doubles

More information Year, Tournament ...

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
1950	Malaysia Open	Ong Poh Lim	Goh Chin Kim Abdullah Piruz	15–9, 15–3	Winner	[23]
1950	Singapore Open	Ong Poh Lim	Teoh Peng Hooi Wong Peng Soon	15–12, 15–9	Winner	[24]
1951	Hull Open	Ong Poh Lim	Noel Radford Wong Peng Soon	18–16, 15–12	Winner	[25]
1951	Surrey Open	Ong Poh Lim	Noel Radford Wong Peng Soon	15–2, 15–12	Winner	[26]
1951	All England	Ong Poh Lim	David Choong Eddy Choong	15–9, 7–15, 10–15	Runner-up	[27]
1951	French Open	Ong Poh Lim	Cheong Hock Leng Eddy Choong	15–7, 15–7	Winner	[28]
1951	Denmark Open	Ong Poh Lim	Jørn Skaarup Preben Dabelsteen	15–9, 15–5	Winner	[13]
1951	Singapore Open	Ong Poh Lim	Cheong Hock Leng Loong Pan Yap	15–8, 15–10	Winner	[29]
1952	Singapore Open	Ong Poh Lim	Kon Kong Min Tan Chong Tee	15–11, 15–12	Winner	[22]
1953	Malaysia Open	Ong Poh Lim	Abdullah Piruz Chan Kon Leong	12–15, 15–10, 15–10	Winner	[30]
1953	Singapore Open	Ong Poh Lim	Ng Heng Kwang Seah Hark Chim	15–2, 15–3	Winner	[31]
1954	Singapore Open	Ong Poh Lim	Teoh Peng Hooi Wong Peng Soon	15–6, 15–10	Winner	[32]
1955	Singapore Open	Ong Poh Lim	Robert Lim Lim Wei Loon	15–7, 15–7	Winner	[33]
1956	Malaysia Open	Ong Poh Lim	Abdullah Piruz Mok Yat Wah	15–2, 15–6	Winner	[34]
1956	Singapore Open	Ong Poh Lim	Goh Tian Chye Tan Chin Guan	15–2, 15–8	Winner	[35]
1957	Singapore Open	Ong Poh Lim	Johnny Heah Lim Say Hup	15–10, 4–15, 7–15	Runner-up	[36]

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