The VICTOR Oceania Para Badminton Championships 2022 is coming to Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre from 29-31 July 2022.
It will be the first Continental Championships for Para badminton since the 2020 tournament in Ballarat and only the third edition overall, after the inaugural tournament took place in 2018, hosted by Geelong, Australia.
This year, the tournament celebrates the largest entry yet, with a total of 51 players from four countries registered to compete.
38 players from Australia have entered, which is one more than the total entry for the 2020 Championships. The increase is testament to the substantial growth and strength of state and national development programmes which have increased awareness and skills in the sport. Tokyo 2020 Paralympians, Caitlin Dransfield (SL4) and Grant Manzoney (WH2) are among the home contingent of players.
New Zealand have entered seven players and Fiji will be sending one representative, Selina Seau (SL4), who made her debut in 2020.
Moreover, Papua New Guinea will extend their legacy from the 2020 Championships, where four players (Jerome Bunge – SL3, David Kaniku – SH6, Nelly Leva – SU5 and Danny Ten – SL3) made their international debut and became the first PNG representatives at an international badminton tournament.
The same four players will return to Melbourne, made possible through funding from the Australian Government, with one additional player joining their team in 2022 – Dorna Longbut (SU5). She will be making her tournament debut in Melbourne and has also benefitted from a BWF Para Badminton development grant to assist her competition and training efforts.
Before the tournament takes place, our Coaching and Development Officer, Ian Bridge, will be delivering a training camp for the players from Papua New Guinea and Fiji as part of ongoing Para badminton development initiatives.
The draws for all disciplines will be conducted on Thursday 28 July at the team manager’s meeting following classification. These will be available to view on Tournament Software. Learn more about Para badminton classifications here.
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