Badminton Australia (BA) is the top governing body for

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is committed to promoting the awareness and development of badminton within Australia and is also responsible for the management of international badminton relations + events. Junior events such as the June Bevan Teams Event or CP Maddern Trophy with their respective Australasian Championships, along with the Australian Closed Championships are also organised and run by Badminton Australia.

History

Badminton has been existent in Australia since the early 1900s, especially within regions in Victoria. The official Australian Badminton Association was formed in 1932, and shortly after, Australia became the 11th member of the International Badminton Federation. In 1936, it founded the development of the Oceania Badminton Confederation alongside New Zealand. This is now known as Badminton Oceania. The current national office for BA resides in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Victoria.

Achievements

Australia is yet to be a competitive nation in the field of badminton, in the context of current

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

n and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an/

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

n dominance. However, at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics

Anna Lao Anna Oi Chan Lao (born 7 May 1962) is a former Australian badminton player. She is the most successful badminton player in the history of Australian badminton. She was ranked 5th in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, where badminton had ...

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 Sze Yu (born 30 September 1962) is a Chinese-born Australian actor, television presenter and retired badminton player. As a badminton player, he represented both Hong Kong and Australia. In the 1980s, he was one of the top players in the world. ...

. He was runners-up at the 1985 World Badminton Grand Prix. Silver-medallist in men's singles at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. He was also the Winner of the 1988 U.S. Open Badminton Championships. When commenting on Australian players at the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

, BA's Chief Executive Paul Brettell has stated that 'A bad draw will see he Australian playersout after their first game' and that 'Australia's greatest achievement is just qualifying for the event'. These statements reflect the current status of badminton within Australia, with Anna Lao's performance in the Barcelona Olympics being one of the few exceptions. Further, according to the

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

, badminton was one of just 2 Australian sports (the other being Rugby Sevens) not to win a medal at the

2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held i ...

Recent performances at the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

have reinforced this viewpoint, with all Australians knocked out of their respective first matches.Badminton Results at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
/ref> However, there appears to be a resurgence in Australian badminton with a strong performance at the 2012 London Olympics where Leanne Choo and

Renuga Veeran Renuga Veeran (born 20 June 1986) is an Australian badminton player. She has represented both Malaysia and Australia internationally as a badminton player. As part of the Australian Olympic Team,Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine member ...

* Badminton Oceania *

Badminton Victoria 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 also responsible for the management of international badminton relation ...

References

External links

* {{Sports governing bodies in Australia Badminton in Australia

Sports governing bodies in Australia 1932 establishments in Australia Sports organizations established in 1932 Organisations based in Melbourne