Richard Vaughan (born 16 April 1978) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

and British

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 ...

player from

Llanbradach Llanbradach is a village within the historic boundaries of Glamorgan, South Wales less than north of the town of Caerphilly. It is part of the community of Llanbradach and Pwll-y-Pant. It is mostly residential, and contains three pubs, a primar ...

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; cy, Caerffili, ) is a town and community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley. It is north of Cardiff and northwest of Newport. It is the largest town in Caerphilly County Borough, and lies wit ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Vaughan was the Chief Executive of Badminton Ireland between 2011 - 2015. In 2014 Vaughan joined the board of Badminton Europe (a member of the Badminton World Federation). He chairs the high-performance commission, which has overseen the development of a World Training Centre in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Between 2015-2020 Vaughan was the CEO of Squash Australia, where he oversaw the sport rebranding, topping the medal table at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. A new National Training Centre was opened on the Gold Coast in late 2018. In 2019, Vaughan established the 'Friends of Squash' Parliament competition with the current Sports Minister Anika Wells and Prime Minister

Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019 and the member of parlia ...

. In late 2020 Vaughan joined the board at Equestrian Australia as a Non-Executive Director, Chairing the Finance Committee.

Education

Vaughan holds an MBA from Leicester University and an MA in Sports Development from Bath University, having previously achieved a BSc(Hons) in economics and politics. He is currently completing a Ph.D. study at the University of Canberra via a Sports Integrity Australia scholarship. He has a long interest in athletes’ impact on the integrity of sport, demonstrated by his stance on Darfur in the build-up to Beijing 2008.

Career

Richard Vaughan won a bronze medal at the

2000 European Badminton Championships The 17th European Badminton Championships were held in Glasgow, Scotland, between 25 and 29 April 2000, and hosted by the European Badminton Union and the Scottish Badminton Union. Venue This tournament was held at the Kelvin Hall International ...

, losing to Peter Gade (Denmark) in the semi-final. He also won a bronze medal at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

, beating world No3 Susilo (Singapore) and Gupta (India) on the way to the semi-final, where he lost to Lee (Malaysia). His highest world ranking was number 7 (2002). He beat the World No1 Roslin Hashim (Malaysia) at the Danish Open 2001 and Swiss Open 2002. In 2004 Vaughan beat the World Champion Xia Xuanze (China) at the All England Super Series. He has 97 caps representing Wales (March 2009). In 2005 he established the Richard Vaughan Badminton Academy, based in the UK, helping establish many British and European players. Vaughan has competed twice in

badminton at the Summer Olympics Badminton had its debut as an official event on the 1992 Summer Olympics and has been contested in eight Olympiads. 74 different nations have appeared in the Olympic badminton competitions, with 18 appearing all eight times. It is governed by th ...

. Vaughan played

badminton at the 2000 Summer Olympics Badminton at the 2000 Summer Olympics was held at the Pavilion 3, Sydney Olympic Park from 17 – 23 September. Both men and women competed in their own singles and doubles events and together they competed in a mixed doubles event. Medalists ...

in men's singles, beating world No5

Boonsak Ponsana Boonsak Ponsana ( th, บุญศักดิ์ พลสนะ; ; born 22 February 1982) is a Thai badminton player. His younger sister Salakjit Ponsana is also part of the Thailand badminton team. He got a Bachelor of Laws from Sri Patum. ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

in the first round and Swedish No1 Rasmus Wengberg of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in the 2nd round, before losing to World No1 and World Champion Sun Jun of China, 13–15 13–15. He also competed at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

despite contracting a virus similar to glandular fever, which seriously impaired his preparation for the Athens Olympics. In men's singles, he defeated

Marco Vasconcelos Marco Paulo Pereira Vasconcelos (born 7 November 1971) is a male badminton player from Portugal. Vasconcelos played a big role in helping the Portuguese team to win bronze at the Helvetia Cup in 2005. In his home country he won 15 titles at the ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in the first round. In the round of 16, Vaughan was defeated by

Shon Seung-Mo Shon Seung-mo (Hangul: 손승모; born 1 July 1980 in Milyang, Gyeongsangnam-do) is a badminton player from South Korea. In 2004, he won the silver medal at the Athens Summer Olympics. Career Olympic Games He competed at the 2000 and 2004 Su ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, the eventual silver medalist.

Best Grand Prix results

*Last 16 All England 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007 *1/4 Final Danish Grand Prix 2001 *1/4 Final Swiss Grand Prix 2002 *1/4 Final German Grand Prix 2002 *Semi Final Dutch Grand Prix 2000 *Semi Final US Grand Prix 2007 *Final Polish Grand Prix 2000 *Final Polish Grand Prix 2001

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

''Men's singles''

European Championships

''Men's singles''

European Junior Championships

''Boys' singles''

World Grand Prix

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) since 1983. ''Men's singles''

BWF International Challenge/Series

''Men's singles'' ''Mixed doubles'' :

BWF International Challenge The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF International Series The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament

References

External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, Richard 1978 births Living people Welsh male badminton players Badminton players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players for Great Britain Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Wales People educated at Lewis School, Pengam Commonwealth Games medallists in badminton Badminton players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Badminton players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Badminton players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games