Pictured: Gobi Ranganathan, England Wheelchair player. Photo Credit: Badminton Photo
The Para badminton development camp for targeted Australian and Papua New Guinea players scheduled at the Australian Institute of Sport commencing tomorrow has been forced to move location due to concerns over air quality in Canberra caused by the devastating bush fires.
“Air quality index readings above 200 are considered hazardous to health. On Wednesday, readings at one Canberra monitoring site peaked at 7,700 at 1am. As the day progressed, they hovered between 3,400 and 5,000, depending where in the city you were.” – The Guardian
The camp which will now be held at the Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre has been reduced in number and will now only feature predominantly Australian wheelchair players utilising the services of ex-international player from Malaysia, Veevian Chong, and English Para-badminton star Gobi Ranganathan.
Chong was part of the Gold-medal winning team for Malaysia at the 2008 World Junior Championships, going on to represent Malaysia (and later Australia) in various International tournaments.
Having previously worked as a coach with the likes of Setyana Mapasa (current Australian National player), Chong is excited to develop the region’s para players after completing the BWF disability coaching module in October 2019
“Although I have limited experience with Para badminton, I was given the chance to coach Australia’s Céline Vinot a couple of months ago and now I have the chance to teach a bigger group of players”
“My goal is to see them participate in a future Paralympic Games. I will teach them the skills and techniques that I learnt as a professional player”, says Chong.
Lead by Badminton Oceania’s Coaching and Development Officer; Ian Bridge, Chong will help bring to life the camp theme of ‘anticipation’.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for our wheelchair players as they will gain great benefit from having a former national player from Malaysia coaching them”
“This further enhances Para badminton as an exciting game which from a coaching perspective provides new opportunities and wonderful challenges”, says Ian Bridge.
Also joining them at the camp is England’s Gobi Ranganathan.
The wheelchair player has formed a strong relationship with players from Oceania on the international circuit and will be a strong addition to the week, providing valuable sparring, match play and coaching insights as he shares his great wealth of knowledge with the players and coaches
“We are fortunate to have a very experienced Para player, Gobi Ranganathan attending to share his experiences and run some of the sessions. Gobi has been part of the UK system for a number of years”, says Ian Bridge
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