Proud mother Hanny stands firm behind her boys

CHERAS: Hanny Pranatyo has spent most of her life ferrying her three sons between school, home and the badminton courts and the homemaker has no regrets.

Today, she wears a satisfied look as her eldest son, Zulfadli Zulkifli, is now a celebrated lad on the international badminton scene while the younger offsprings, Zulfaiz and Zulhelmi, are working towards achieving success in their own way.

"I’ve sacrificed a lot but I have no complaints," said Hanny.

Hanny has never stopped any of her children from taking up sports. After all, she used to play badminton herself and trained at Pelita Jaya in Indonesia, the same club where Indonesian ace Susi Susanti was attached to.

"All I want is to see all three of my boys having sound education and being good in sports. I’ve played badminton at the lower level before so I’ll be the last person to ever stop them from playing sports."

Hanny, who worked for the Malaysian Embassy in the USA before marrying Zulkifli Sidek, said Zulfadli has always been responsible and disciplined.

"If you were expecting him to be a cheeky or naughty boy, I’m sorry to disappoint you," laughed Hanny.

"He is very matured for his age. He has never bugged us for anything. He is not the type to waste money on stuff and always thinks about the future."

Hanny recalled Zulfadli growing up wanting to be a doctor.

"It was right after he received his PMR results and he got quite a number of As. He had aspirations to go to medical school, but it would be difficult to juggle medicine and badminton. Now he has enrolled himself at Universiti Putra Malaysia for a business course."

Zulfadli is now saving up to buy a small car for his birthday.

"He does not want us to fork out a single sen. He believes we have spent enough raising him. That is Zulfadli."