Sport | Badminton |
---|---|
Jurisdiction | Australia |
Abbreviation | BA |
Founded | 1932 |
Affiliation | BWF |
Affiliation date | 1936 |
Regional affiliation | BOC |
Affiliation date | 1936 |
Headquarters | Williamstown, Victoria |
President | Andrew Greenway |
CEO | Jamie Parsons |
Official website | |
www | |
Badminton Australia (BA) is the top governing body for badminton in Australia. [1] It is committed to promoting the awareness and development of badminton within Australia and is responsible for the management of international badminton relations and events. Badminton Australia also organises and runs junior events such as the June Bevan Teams Event or CP Maddern Trophy with their respective Australasian Championships, along with the Australian Closed Championships.
Badminton has been played in Australia since the early 1900s, [2] especially within Victoria. The Australian Badminton Association was formed in 1932, and shortly after Australia became the 11th member of the International Badminton Federation. In 1936, alongside New Zealand, it formed the Oceania Badminton Confederation [3] (now known as Badminton Oceania).
The current national office for BA is located in Melbourne, Victoria.
Australia is not yet a competitive nation in the field of badminton due to the current Asian and European/Scandinavian dominance. [4]
When commenting on Australian players at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, BA's Chief Executive Paul Brettell has said that "A bad draw will see [the Australian players] out after their first game" [5] and that "Australia's greatest achievement is just qualifying for the event". These statements reflect the historical performance of badminton within Australia. For instance, badminton was one of just two Australian sports (the other being Rugby Sevens) not to win a medal at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, [6] and at the 2008 Olympics all Australians were knocked out of their respective first matches. [7]
A notable exception to this trend was Anna Lao at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where she reached the quarterfinals in the women's singles, doubles and mixed and was overall ranked 5th in the world for each of those events. Another noticeable achievement is from Sze Yu, who was runner-up at the 1985 World Badminton Grand Prix, silver medallist in men's singles at the 1986 Commonwealth Games and also the winner of the 1988 U.S. Open Badminton Championships.
More recently, there appears to be a resurgence in Australian badminton with a strong performance at the 2012 London Olympics where Leanne Choo and Renuga Veeran reached the quarterfinals of the women's doubles event.
Rachel Louise Hindley is a New Zealand badminton player. She won the women's singles gold at the Oceania Championships in 2006 and also women's doubles gold in 2008. She competed at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in the women's singles, doubles, and team event; and reaching the quarter finals in the singles event.
David Zalcberg ([zaltsberg]?) is a left-handed Australian former table tennis player.
Robin Middleton is an English badminton player currently representing Australia. He was one of the UK's leading badminton players. Born in Leeds in 1985, his interests include cricket, sky diving, and botany. He holds a 2.1 degree from Loughborough University. He was the mixed doubles champion at the 2010 European Circuit Finals partnered with Mariana Agathangelou.
Jeffrey Tho is an Australian male badminton player. He competed at the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games. In 2014, he won the gold medal at the Oceania Championships in the men's singles event, he also won bronze in 2008.
Rhonda Cator is a retired female badminton player from Australia.
Rajah Menuri Venkata Gurusaidutt or R. M. V. Gurusaidutt or Gurusai Dutt born to RMV Bharadwaj and RM Anjana is a badminton player from India. He trains at the Hyderabad's Gopichand Badminton Academy. He won the gold medal at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games and the bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Michelle Li is a Canadian badminton player from Markham, Ontario. Li is the 2014 Commonwealth Games champion and the first Canadian to win an individual gold medal in women's singles badminton at the Commonwealth Games. She has won gold in both singles and doubles at the Pan American Games and won the singles and team event titles from the Pan American Badminton Championships. As a competitor for Ontario, Li also won singles, doubles, and mixed team titles at the 2011 Canada Winter Games.
Victoria "Vicky" Na is an Australian badminton player. She is of Indonesian and Thai descent. She has won an Australian age national championship and participated in several international badminton competitions. Na made her Australian national badminton team debut in 2011 and was a member of the Australian 2012 Summer Olympics badminton team.
Renuga Veeran is a Malaysian-born Australian badminton player. She has represented both Malaysia and Australia internationally as a badminton player. As part of the Australian Olympic Team, she paired with Leanne Choo and reached the quarter-finals in the women's doubles competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Leanne Choo is a badminton player from Australia. She is the reigning Oceania Champion in women's and mixed doubles. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics, alongside former women's doubles partner, Renuga Veeran. Choo also competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Melissa Tapper is an Australian table tennis player. After competing at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, she represented Australia at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in elite non-Paralympic competition. In March 2016, she became the first Australian athlete to qualify for both the Summer Olympics and Summer Paralympics.
Edwin Ekiring is a Ugandan badminton player, nicknamed "The Black Pearl". He is 1.83 metres tall and weighs 65 kilograms (143 lb).
Eli Mambwe is a Zambian badminton player. He won a silver medal for the men's singles at the 2007 All-Africa Games in Algiers, Algeria, losing out to the host nation's Nabil Lasmari.
Xing Aiying is a Chinese-born Singaporean former badminton player who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Tania Ann Luiz is an Australian badminton player. At the age of nine, Luiz moved with her family to Melbourne, Australia. She started playing badminton three years later, and went on to represent Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, coincidentally in her home city. She defeated South Africa's Michelle Edwards and Fiji's Karyn Whiteside in the preliminary rounds, before losing out her third match to New Zealand's Rachel Hindley, with a score of 7–21 and 12–21.
Kyle Davis is an Australian table tennis player. He was selected to represent his nation, Australia, at the 2008 Summer Olympics and at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. As of October 2011, Davis is ranked no. 401 in the world by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). He is also right-handed, and uses the classic grip and Butterfly Jonyer blade.
Setyana Daniella Florensia Mapasa is an Australian badminton player. Mapasa won a silver medal at the 2013 BWF World Junior Championships mixed team when she represented Indonesia. She officially became an Australian citizen in 2014. She was selected to join the national team compete at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. She was four times women's doubles Oceania champions from 2017 to 2020 with her partner Gronya Somerville, also two times champion in the mixed doubles event in 2017 and 2018 alongside Sawan Serasinghe.
Sawan Serasinghe is a former badminton player from Australia. He won seven Oceania Championships titles, five in the men's doubles and two in the mixed doubles. Serasinghe competed in the men's doubles event at the 2016 Summer Olympics alongside Matthew Chau.
Gronya Somerville is an Australian badminton player specializing in doubles. She has won nine Oceania Championships titles, six in the women's doubles and three in the mixed doubles.
Wendy Chen Hsuan-yu is an Australian badminton player who has represented her country at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.