BADMINTON VICTORIA ‘AROUND THE COURTS’ Edition 23, August 2009 What’s on in August… In this issue... Aug 9 U15 State Titles—MSAC • From the BV Aug 9 Disability Come & Try Day—MSAC Office Aug 15 Junior State Pennant—Traralgon • YONEX Austra- Aug 15-16 Geelong Veterans lian Open Grand Aug 16 L1 Coaching Course—Monash Uni Prix Aug 22-23 U15 Selection Trial—Ballarat • Staff Profile Aug 22—23 Warrnambool Open/Graded Aug 22—29 Ede-Clendinnen Shield –Hobart, Tas • Recent Results Aug 30 Junior Teams C’ships—MSAC • CONTEST! • Association websites Upcoming Badminton Events • Coaching Corner Sept 5 Monash Open & Graded—Monash Uni L1/1A Refresher Course—SEBA Sept 6 Level 1 Course—Altona Sept 12 Ballarat Junior—Ballarat Sept 20 L1/1A Refresher Course—Ballarat Sept 26-27 Kilsyth Veterans—Kilsyth Sept 29—Oct 3 U15 Val Nesbitt Carnival—Brisbane P: 9686 4777 www.badmintonvic.com.au 2 BADMINTON VICTORIA ‘Around the Courts’ From the BV Office Well, it arrived and in the blink of an eye it was gone! The Pan Pacific titles, the 2009 Yo- nex Australian U19 International and the 2009 Yonex Australian Open Grand Prix were all a raging success. We hosted some of the worlds top players, and the biggest Badminton event Australia has seen in years! The highlight was obviously the unexpected win in the Women's Doubles by Chia Chi Huang and Rosie Tang!! Well done ladies!! A big Thank You and Congratulations to everyone involved for making this event the success it was!! Even though this event has come and gone, grassroots badminton still continues to grow and be played across all areas of the state. With the ongoing implementation of Bad- minton Victoria’s Strategic Plan we will be starting to take a closer look at what makes badminton tick at this level. What do our members want? What do social players need? What can we, as a whole, do to benefit the sport? If you have a new and innovative idea on something, we would love to hear it! We have a fantastic sport that we would love to share with everyone. Lets build it to- gether. I look forward to meeting with and talking to a lot of you in the coming months. Lets make badminton in Victoria all it can be. May your shuttles fly true. Mark Drehlich Executive Director Photos courtesy of Jarrod Partridge P: 9686 4777 www.badmintonvic.com.au 3 BADMINTON VICTORIA ‘Around the Courts’ Aussie’s Huang and Tang outclass India’s Balan and Kurian to win the Women’s Doubles at the 2009 Yonex Australian Open Grand Prix –Ruth Barnard Huang and Tang came out of retire- ment to compete in the Women’s Dou- bles at the Grand Prix, and gave the young third seeds a lesson in patience and strategy as they combined speed and strength in a skillful and exciting contest. Huang and Tang’s experience shone throughout the match. They rose to any challenge from Balan and Kurian with some great defence, turning seem- ingly unachievable points into thrilling victories. Cheered on by a partisan crowd, the veteran duo came out on top in two games, bringing home Aus- tralia’s only win of the tournament. Earlier, New Zealand missed out on their first tournament win with Haliday and Rosie with her two children, and Chai Chi on the winner’s podium after the Tam going down in two games to the exciting Women’s Doubles match. Photo courtesy of Warren Woolcock. number one seeds Wiratama and Chau from Hong Kong China. The New Zealand pair never got into the match and made far too many unforced errors from the start. Speed and dominance from the back of the court gave Wiratama and Chau the advantage who downed Haliday and Tam in 17 minutes. The Men’s Singles final was an all-Indonesian affair between unseeded Rumbaka and Alamsyah Yunus. The pair was evenly matched with each player striving to gain an early advantage and it was Rumbaka who edged ahead in the first game with some great winning overheads. The mo- mentum swung back and forth in both games with each player mixing up play, combining deli- cate touches at the net with speed and strength from all corners of the court. Rumbaka’s power overhead gave him the winning edge and saw him take out the match in two closely contested games. The top two seeds met in the final of the Women’s Singles but the match was not as closely con- tested as the seeding suggests. Top seed Yip from Hong Kong China, struggled to find form throughout the match and made too many unforced errors. Her movement across court was not as sharp as earlier rounds and her opponent looked fresh in comparison. Kusumastuti played more consistently and made fewer errors, moving her at times jaded opponent around the court with apparent ease. Kusumastuti took the first game and despite Yip saving two match points in the second, went on to win the match. The Men’s Doubles was a fast moving match between the number one seeds Kumar/Thomas from India and the number two seeds Gan/Tan of Malaysia. All players displayed speed and agility around the court but it was the power of the Malaysian pair, combined with great reflexes that gave them the advantage. Kumar/Thomas ran out of answers to Gan/Tan’s smart attacking play which saw them win the match in two easy games. P: 9686 4777 www.badmintonvic.com.au 4 BADMINTON VICTORIA ‘Around the Courts’ 2009 YONEX Australian Open Grand Prix –by Peter Roberts Where was I?? Not Melbourne Australia!! Not at the Badminton!! I thought I was dreaming when I saw the number of people going nuts at a Badminton event in Australia, just like they do in many Asian countries. Fantastic to see it happening here. The event itself attracted 17 countries and 146 competitors. Right from the first round we saw some top class matches, with seeds tumbling out of the tournament on day one. At times it was difficult to believe we were watching Badminton in Australia. Sunday finals were a sell-out with over 400 tickets being sold prior to the day. We saw the stands full of screaming fans for the Sunday finals, breaking into wild applause and cheering when Chai Chi and Rosie took to the court for the final match of the day. We had stacks of children running around getting autographs of their favourite players. I don’t think I’ve seen so many people try- ing get photographs at the medal ceremony of a Badminton match in Australia, it was crazy stuff, and it was great. We hope by presenting these high level tournaments in our player’s back yard it will decrease some of the travel costs to our players as well as providing some high quality Badminton matches for players and spectators alike. A huge thank you to all those people who contributed to the success of Victoria’s first ever “Grand Prix” Badminton tournament. To the court officials and volunteers who contributed so much of their time we cannot thank you enough. Lynne Nixey, our referee for the U19 event, as well as the assistant referee for the Open, your workload was massive yet you still came into the venue each day with a smile and sense of humour. Kristine Thomas & Peter Cocker did a magnificent job in match control and scheduling as well as resident I.T. guru’s. Thank you for all your hard work prior to, and during the event. Kay Coady, thank you so much for your massive contribution in coordinating line judges, umpires as well as the catering for the court officials and volunteers. The Badminton Victoria staff leading up to, and during the event, went out of their way to ensure the smooth running of the event. MSAC staff were extremely helpful and ensured the place looked its best, whenever we asked for something extra they provided solutions. I think this is a good building block for a bigger and better event in 2010. We most certainly can do it better if we have the chance to host again next year. If you would like to be involved in next year’s event, get in early and register your interest, be- come part of the Oz Open 2010 team. “Get on board or get out of the way” P: 9686 4777 www.badmintonvic.com.au 5 BADMINTON VICTORIA ‘Around the Courts’ Staff Profiles~ Andy Full name: Andy Chew Sian Thoe Age: 23 Position: Events Assistant Badminton Experience: Was a state junior player back in Malaysia up to Under 18 level. Represented Monash Uni- versity in the Australian University Games in 2006 and 2008. Won the gold medal in 2008 and was awarded the "Green and Gold" in the 2008 Australian University Games. Other sports: Love all sports. I’m into indoor soccer and soccer would be my next favourite sport after badmin- ton. Occasionally I play tennis and table tennis as well. Favourite parts of your role: I had a really great time as- sisting in the planning and management of the Vic Fu- ture Series/Graded and the YONEX Australian Open Grand Prix. I learnt a great deal in the weeks leading up to the Australian Open Grand Prix and enjoyed interact- ing with the rest of the BV staff. If you could meet someone living or dead, who would it be and why? Roger Federer. An amazing champion and a true gentleman.