Women's badminton in Australia | |
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Country | Australia |
National team(s) | Australia |
The beginning of women's badminton in Australia dates back to the year 1900, when for the first time badminton was played in Australia.
The first regional badminton championships were held in 1932 in Victoria followed by the first national championships in 1935. In 1934, the Victorian Women's Centennial Sports Carnival was held. The event was organised by the Victorian Women's Amateur Sports Council and held at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. The purpose was to increase women's interest in sport by providing them opportunities to play. Sports that were included on the programme included cricket, field hockey, women's basketball, bowls, rowing, swimming, athletics, rifle shooting, baseball, golf, tennis and badminton. There were over 1,000 bowlers involved over the course a week. Cricket featured a match versus a visiting English side. Women's basketball featured a Victorian side playing against a representative all Australian side. There was a day for watersports such as swimming and rowing. A tennis tournament was held. A field hockey tournament featuring Australian, Kiwi and Fijian teams was played. [1]
In 1940, a study of 314 women in New Zealand and Australia was done. Most of the women in the study were middle class, conservative, Protestant and white. The study found that 183 participated in sport. The ninth most popular sport that these women participated in was croquet, with 3 having played the sport. The sport was tied with billiards, chess, fishing, field hockey, horse racing, squash, table tennis and shooting. [2]
Australian women's sports had an advantage over many other women's sport organisations around the world in the period after World War II. The women's sport organisations had largely remained intact and were holding competitions during the period of the war. This structure survived in the post war period. Women's sport were not hurt because of food rationing, petrol rationing, population disbursement, and other issues facing post-war Europe. [3]
There are organized many national badminton tournaments for all age groups in Australia. Most of the tournaments are open for male and for female contestants together. Team, singles, doubles and mixed doubles tournaments are held, where singles, doubles and mixed doubles events are in the most cases held together during one and the same tournament. The most important national tournaments are the Australian national championships, the Clendinnen Shield, the H. B. Wray Trophy, the C. Maddern Trophy, the Melbourne Silver Bowl and Australian ranking tournaments. Australian championships were open for international contestants until the end of the 1990s. In the meantime the Australian championships were divided into an international one (Australia Open championships or Australia International) and a national one (Australia closed championships).
On the international level, Australia organizes the already mentioned Australia Open championships and alternating with New Zealand the team competition for the Whyte Trophy. The Australian teams and players participate in all major tournaments of the BWF. In single and doubles tournaments, the players participate for instance in the World championships, Oceania championships, Commonwealth games and the BWF Super Series. The mixed national team competes in the Sudirman Cup, the women's team in the Uber Cup. Australia did not participate in the first women's world team championship in 1957. In the second championship Australia lost in the final of the preliminary round to New Zealand. [4]
Badminton Australia (BA) is the top governing body for badminton in Australia. 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.
Ashwini Ponnappa Machimanda is an Indian badminton player who represents the country at the international badminton circuit in both the women's and mixed doubles disciplines. She had a successful partnership with Jwala Gutta as the pair has won many medals in international events including a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and bronze medals at the Uber Cup and the Asian Badminton Championships. They were consistently ranked among the top 20 in the BWF World Ranking reaching as high as no. 10. Ponnappa and Gutta also won the bronze medal at the BWF World Championships in 2011, becoming the first Indian pair and women and only the second overall to win a medal at the World Championships.
Duanganong Aroonkesorn is an internationally elite badminton player from Thailand. She competed at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Asian Games. Aroonkesorn is a women's doubles specialist who is paired with Kunchala Voravichitchaikul. Her best results with Voravichitchaikul have come in 2010 including a Superseries tournament victory at the 2010 French Open.
Miyuki Maeda is a Japanese international badminton player from the Renesas badminton club and later affiliated with Saishunkan team. She participated at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, and also in three Asian Games editions from 2006 to 2014.
While not being urged to avoid competition, women had few opportunities to compete in sport in Australia until the 1880s. After that date, new sporting facilities were being built around the country and many new sport clubs were created. Athletic events were being held in schools in Australia by the early part of the twentieth century. The Glennie School in Toowoomba was one school to host races for girls during their annual girls' sport day. During the 1920s, girls were able to run while wearing bloomers, instead of skirts. The first meeting for women's athletics took place in 1926 and was organised by the NSWAAA. The purpose of the meeting was to determine if it would be possible to send women to compete in the 1928 Summer Olympics based on merit. Only one female athlete was determined to be good enough to send. That was E.F. Robinson. The first women's national athletics body designed to govern the sport in Australia was founded in 1932 and was called the Australian Women's Amateur Athletic Union. It was designed to oversee state organisations in Victoria (1929), Queensland (1921), New South Wales (1932) and South Australia. (1932) The first Australian woman to travel overseas to compete was E.F. Robinson, who went to the 1928 Summer Olympics where she ran in the 100-metres. She came in third and was the only Australian female on the 1928 Australian Olympic team.
The first women's bowls match played in Australia took place in Stawell, Victoria, in October 1881. The first women's only bowls club was not created for another seventeen years, when the Rainsford Bowls Club was created on 16 December 1898 at the home of J. Rainsford Needham, who lived in Glenferrie, Victoria. The first women's bowls association was created in September 1907. The association was called the Victorian Ladies' Bowling Association, and was created by six Melbourne-based clubs. It was the first women's bowling association created the world.
Reika Kakiiwa is a Japanese badminton player from Renesas badminton club. Reika Kakiiwa has gained prominence in the badminton community because of her success in women's doubles. She has reached a career high ranking of third in the world with her partner Mizuki Fujii. She has also competed in mixed doubles reaching a peak ranking of 51st with her partner Kenta Kazuno.
Michelle Li is a Canadian badminton player. 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.
Mami Naito is a Japanese badminton player from the Yonex team, who competed at the 2014 Asian Games. She educated physical education at the Nippon Sport Science University, Tokyo. Her older brother, Yusuke Naito is a badminton coach. Naito and her women's doubles partner Shizuka Matsuo have reached the career high as world number 3 in the BWF World ranking.
Kim Min-jung is a badminton player representing South Korea. Her name is sometimes spelled Kim Min-jeong. As a badminton player, Kim has focused on doubles with Ha Jung-eun; together they competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the past she has been paired with Hwang Ji-man and Yoo Yeon-seong in mixed doubles.
Mizuki Fujii is a badminton player from Ashikita, Kumamoto, Japan and plays for the Renesas badminton club. Mizuki Fujii concentrates on doubles badminton. Most of her success has come with women's doubles partner Reika Kakiiwa. Together they reached the final of the 2010 Korea Open Super Series, their first major final as a pair. She also assisted her team in winning the bronze medal at the 2010 Uber Cup. In the mixed doubles she pairs with Hirokatsu Hashimoto. Her career highest achievement was the silver medal in the women's doubles at the 2012 London Summer Olympics with Kakiiwa. She retired from professional badminton after the win at London.
Jung Kyung-eun is a South Korean professional badminton player. She was the 2016 Summer Olympics bronze medalist in the women's doubles event.
Satoko Suetsuna is a badminton player from Japan. Born in Ōita, Ōita Prefecture, she joined Renesas badminton club and later affiliated with Saishunkan team. She was a bronze medalist at the 2011 BWF World Championships with her partner Miyuki Maeda.
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.
Mary Alexandra "Alex" Bruce is a Canadian badminton player from Toronto, Ontario. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Women's doubles event with partner Michelle Li.
Shizuka Matsuo is a Japanese badminton player. Born in Osaka, Matsuo once affiliated with Sanyo Electric and Panasonic badminton team, and after that joining the NTT East team in 2013. She is currently works as a doubles coach in NTT East. Matsuo was a part of the Japanese women's team bronze medalist at the 2014 Asian Games.
The 2014 New Zealand Open Grand Prix officially SkyCity New Zealand Open 2014 was a badminton tournament which took place at the North Shore Events Centre, Auckland, New Zealand from 15 until 19 April 2014 and had a total purse of $50,000.
The XIII 2018 Oceania Badminton Championships was the continental badminton championships in Oceania sanctioned by the Badminton Oceania, and Badminton World Federation. This championship was organized by Badminton New Zealand, and was the 13th edition of the Oceania Badminton Championships. It was held in Hamilton, New Zealand from 6 to 11 February 2018. The team event started on 6 February, and was the qualification stage for the 2018 Thomas & Uber Cup finals in Thailand, while the individual event will start on February 8.