Badminton Men's team collect Div 1 Gold for the fourth consecutive year

Our Badminton Men have returned from the Gold Coast as Div 1 champions for the FOURTH year in a row!!

The team were undefeated heading into finals yesterday, but had to outdo tough rival Melbourne Uni to earn their spot in the Gold medal round, where they defeated University of New South Wales in three straight matches.

The win was all the more impressive this year as the Monash team were without Badminton Olympian Matthew Chau.  

World University Games Australian representative and Engineering/Commerce student Athi Selladurai has competed in five Nationals, but said the competition this year was probably the strongest the team has faced.

“I think we definitely went in as one of the favourites,” he said.

“But there were nine teams competing, and eight were really solid. So everyone across the board was really strong.”

Melbourne Uni defeated Monash in a varsity competition earlier this year, so were the team’s biggest competition heading into Nationals.

The two teams played off in the Semi Final, and unlike earlier in the year Athi was able to get the better of Melbourne’s number one player, landing the Monash boys a position in the Gold medal round.

Despite the rivalry, Athi said the Victorian teams have a close relationship.

“Melbourne Uni supported us in the final, and we went and supported them in their Bronze medal round,” he said.

“We’re quite close with the Melbourne team and the RMIT team, so it was good to have their support.”

The team’s second player Kenneth Choo has remarkably not lost a single match at Nationals since he first represented Monash in 2016, earning himself the nickname ‘Mr Dependable’.

The engineering student was the key to Monash’s success in the gold medal round, as he managed to maintain his winning streak despite facing a strong UNSW player while suffering heat stress.

Kenneth and fellow Monash engineering Gen Sheng Teoh have been competing in doubles together since before they moved from Malaysia to Australia several years ago.

Athi, Kenneth, Teoh and Business student Yongwei (Thomas) Bao will be graduating this year, so the team can expect some big changes in the leadup to next year’s Nationals, although Athi is confident 2019 Div 1 debutants Elton Zhang and Felix Wang have what it takes to step up into leadership roles for the team.

Last year the Women’s team won silver, but this year finished up in 5^th place, having won five of their eight rounds.

Written by Nell O'Shea Carre, Media Coordinator.