The penultimate Para-Badminton event of the year for the region continues to build excitement as the players have arrived in Geelong to acclimatise, while final preparations are being made for the official opening ceremony of the Australian Para-Badminton International 2018. The ceremony will bring together ‘all things Australian’ to welcome all players down under in traditional style.
You can watch the opening ceremony live on the Badminton Oceania Facebook page on Wednesday 21 November, from 6pm.
Over 100 athletes have travelled from across the globe, including countries such as Scotland, Spain, India and Japan, including many of the top ranked players in the world according to the current Para-Badminton World Rankings. Leani Ratri Oktila, from Indonesia, took three medals (two gold and one silver) at the 2018 Asian Para Games earlier this year amongst many other triumphs, now she has her eyes set on Australia:
“I have always wanted to come to Australia and I finally get to be here. As it is the last tournament of the year, my target is to do my absolute best in view of the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Paralympics qualification starting next year!” – says Leani.
There is also a large contingent of players from the home nation competing too:
“The thing I’m most excited about is playing in front of my friends and family, because I’m local to this area” – says Luke Missen, Australia.
The draw for the tournament will be available on Tournament Software in the late hours of Wednesday 21 November; you can find the link along with more information on the event page. Each day throughout the tournament, the event will be live-streamed on OVO – an online live-streaming service – so you can watch all the action live from Geelong. The link to watch the event for free will be provided on our Facebook and event pages each day.
Play commences from 9.30am (standing) and 10am (wheelchair) on Thursday 22 November 2018. Follow us on Facebook to stay up to date with the latest new, results, images and videos from the event – join in the conversation by using the hashtag #APBI2018.
