Chinese Taipei brings a squad of eight to Altona Badminton Centre in Melbourne to compete in this year’s Australian Junior International.
The team consists of varying ages, from 13 – 18, with two of the players looking to capitalise on this experience ahead of their national squad selection for next month’s BWF World Junior Championships in Russia.
As one of the oldest pairs and the only players in the Chinese Taipei contingent to compete in next month’s World Championships, team manager Tasi Hui Min, hopes that Chen Zhi Ray and Cheng Kai Wen can “inspire and teach the younger squad a thing or two”.
However, the first seeds must not get complacent, as they open their Men’s Doubles campaign against Australian hopefuls, Jack Yu (this year’s Regional Junior Mixed Doubles Champion) and Jun Zong Kayson Goh, who eliminated one of the top seeds in the Men’s Singles today in Melbourne.
Having derived from different areas and attending separate schools, the team have only spent the last month training together. However, promising partnerships have already emerged from the avid pool of players.
Mixed doubles duo Chu Tzu Cheng (aged 17) and Lee Yu-Hsuan (aged 15) are a fine example of a new pair looking to set the pace in Australia.
“We came here to win this week and we hope experiences like this will help us to make the team in future Junior World Championships”, says Lee Yu-Hsuan.
While the team benefits from the new social circles and international experience, the youngsters from Chinese Taipei are also excited to embrace Australian culture this week.
“We wanted to come to Australia as we heard it is a beautiful country and we haven’t been here before. We will have one day off to look around after the tournament”, says Chu Tzu Cheng.
The pair will open their Mixed Doubles campaign this evening against Australia’s Jun Zong Kayson Goh and Priska Kustiadi.
Follow the draw and results of the Australian Junior International 2019 on Tournament Software.
