Pictured: Tiffany Ho, Australia. Photo Credit: Badminton Photo, Erika Sawauchi.
Australia’s Tiffany Ho will be making her Commonwealth Games debut later this month in Birmingham. Competing in the biggest tournament of her career is a daunting, yet exciting opportunity, but she will not be alone when finding her feet as a debutant. Team Australia is sending 10 players; eight of which are making their debut.
The 24-year-old (from New South Wales) competed in the VICTOR Oceania Championships 2022, where she was knocked out in the women’s singles semifinals (her fourth semifinal appearance at a Continental Championships). Her records continue to show an upward trend among the continent’s elite, having also finished as runner up in the Australia’s 2022 National Championships where she narrowly lost out to Tokyo 2020 Olympian, Wendy Chen, in three excruciatingly close games.
Her progress is testament to her selection in Birmingham and she was elated to accept the invitation, immersing herself into the rigorous training regime which follows.
“I moved down to Melbourne for 5 weeks to train full time with the team. It was pretty full on, we have a lot of on court morning sessions which means a 5.30am wake up daily. But it was good to spar with different people, train alongside my team mates and really focus just on badminton”, says Tiffany.
For all athletes, the future is unpredictable, and Tiffany has no intentions of taking the opportunity for granted.
“This is like a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I don’t want to waste any of it. I want to try play my best and continue building on my experience to improve my game”
The team recently arrived in The Netherlands where they will spend two weeks training before flying to Birmingham to settle in for the Games.
“Words can’t really describe how I feel and I’m not sure if it has fully hit me yet, but I think when we arrive in Birmingham, it will be really hard to keep in my excitement. I’m just hoping to really embrace and enjoy the whole experience”
Tiffany will join her teammates to open Australia’s campaign in Group 1 of the Mixed Team competition from Friday 29 July, where they have been drawn against top seeds India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. She will then compete in the Individuals tournament from Wednesday 3 August.
The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games takes place at The NEC from 29 July – 6 August 2022.
You can follow the schedule and results on the official website here.
