Commonwealth Games Australia today announced the Badminton Team for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games (GC 2018).
Seven-time Commonwealth Games medallist Matthew Mitcham formally announced the team at Optus Headquarters in Macquarie Park, Sydney.
The 10-strong team is extremely experienced, recently winning both Men’s and Women’s Oceania Teams Championships in New Zealand.
The team will be headlined by current Commonwealth Ranked 2 pair of Gronya Somerville and Setyana Mapasa.
Somerville and Mapasa have had an impressive lead into Commonwealth games selection winning the Oceania Championships for the second time and making the final eight in The China Open Super Series.
“After the great experience of my first Commonwealth Games in Glasgow I am really excited about competing in a home games in front of family and friends and doing everything possible to win a medal,” Somerville said.
This year’s team is embedded with Commonwealth Games experience with Wendy Chen, Leanne Choo, Gronya Somerville, Renuga Veeran, Sawan Serasinghe, Matthew Chau, Ross Smith and Robin Middleton.
Commonwealth Games debutants include Anthony Jo and Setyana Mapasa who is a previous medallist at World Junior Championships.
Australian Team Chef de Mission Steve Moneghetti congratulated the team.
“Congratulations to all the badminton representatives announced in the Australian Team today,” Moneghetti said.
“It is said that badminton is one of the fastest sports in the world, so it creates a really exciting spectacle for fans who will be cheering the Australian team on to success.
“The inclusion of these 10 athletes onto the Team brings the current total to 230 of 470 athletes that will represent Australia on the Gold Coast in April.”
Of the 10 athletes selected, seven are based at Badminton Australia’s High-Performance Centre in Melbourne and the remainder are split between Canberra Institute of Sport, Queensland Institute of Sport and Canada.
The full Team with event is;
Sawan Serasinghe – Doubles, Mixed Doubles
Matthew Chau – Doubles
Ross Smith – Doubles
Robin Middleton – Doubles
Anthony Jo- Singles
Gronya Somerville – Doubles
Setyana Mapasa – Doubles, Mixed Doubles
Renuga Veeran – Doubles
Leanne Choo – Doubles
Wendy Chen – Singles
