Badminton Students Win in Major Competition
Monash's own elite athlete, Leanne Choo, has been incredibly successful in a recent international Badminton competition in Sudirman, China. She was undefeated in her teams group stage in both women's and mixed doubles.
Australia has put in a strong performance at the Sudirman Cup in China to finish third in Group 3. While the Aussies would be a little disappointed that they could not top the group, their only loss came against a Vietnamese team that boasted 2013 World Championship medallist Tien Minh with a close 2-3 score line.
The campaign got off to strong start with wins over Italy (4-1) and Switzerland (3-2). Australia had a chance to top sub group 3B and set up a playoff for top position in Group 3, however could not get over the line against Vietnam, going down 2-3 in a tight encounter to finish second in the Sub-Group. A cross over match against Austria, second placed team in Sub-Group 3A, saw the Aussie team fight back from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2.
Robin Middleton and Leanne Choo’s experience on the international stage showed through for Aussies as they won all four of their mixed doubles matches to finish the tournament undefeated. Leanne also finished undefeated with Gronya Somerville in the women’s doubles. Sudirman Cup debutants Daniel Guda (MS), Joy Lai (WS) and Sawan Serasinghe / Matt Chau (MD) found the going a little more difficult, but will be better for the experience as they fought through some tough matches.
There is no rest for the Aussies as they returned home Sunday in advance of next week’s Australian Open Superseries in Sydney. They will be joined by the Dutch national team in Melbourne this week to help prepare for the event.
