Major tournament coming to town

THE best badminton players in the country will converge in Bendigo next month for the return of the Australian National Championships.

Not only will players compete for individual glory, but they will also be playing for a spot on the Australian team at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games in July.

President of the Bendigo Eaglehawk Badminton Association, Sam Daykin, said it’s great the first national badminton tournament of 2022 will be in Bendigo.

“This will see the profile of badminton in Bendigo gain some prominent coverage and hopefully grow our participation rates and see some junior and senior players join the association and want to play badminton,” he said.

Australian Tokyo Olympians Hsuan-yu Wendy Chen and Gronya Somerville will be competing, as well as upcoming players Jack Yu, Kaitlin Ea and Angela Yu.

The BEBA has previously held under 19 and under 17 national carnivals, as well as the 2005 Youth Commonwealth Games.

Daykin said the association has put their hand up to host the badminton event at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, likely to be held across regional Victoria.

“We’ve got a world class stadium solely designed for badminton, with 16 dedicated courts” he said.

“Out of the three major regional cities in Victoria, Bendigo, Ballarat or Geelong, we probably have the best stadium, I’d like to think we’re in the running with a high chance.”

The National Championships begin on Sunday, 10 April with a teams’ event until Tuesday, 12 April and then the individual tournament from the Wednesday to Friday.

Tickets will be available at the door, at the Bendigo Eaglehawk Badminton Stadium on Victoria Street.