Top mixed doubles shuttler goes Hi-Tec

The lively Filipino audience is one of the things Briton Nathan Robertson, one-half of the world’s best mixed-doubles team along with Gail Emms, will take away from his first visit to the country for the Ryder Cup-style event held in honor of telecom tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan.

The native of Milton Keynes, a city north of London, is looking forward to a return — not just to Manila, but to the Olympics, where he and Emms settled for the silver medal against China’s Zhang Jun and Gao Ling last year in Athens, Greece.

Despite the Olympic setback, Robertson and Emms — playing partners since they were both 15 years old — have an impressive list of victories in the last 18 months alone. They are the reigning European, All-England and Swiss Open champions, and were finalists in the Denmark and German Opens.

The dashing Englishman points to his badminton shoes made by Hi-Tec, a British brand he has endorsed for the last nine years that entered the local market just last September and is just catching on with Filipino players.

"They’re good. They help me a lot," Robertson says of Hi-Tec shoes, which were developed in Britain’s indoor courts in 1974. "Seeing that Asian players are normally lighter and faster than Europeans, that gives them a speed advantage. The shoes help me cope with that, and allow me to think my game over better than my opponents."

Hi-Tec, which has expanded into a global sports brand, has also developed a golf shoe line that Robertson — an avid golfer who holds a 10-handicap and hits the links at least twice a week between badminton tournaments — also gives the thumbs-up.

Still, Robertson’s passion is badminton, so much that he doesn’t have a clear picture what he will do once he hangs up his racket.