Wales national badminton team

The Wales national badminton team (Welsh: Tîm badminton cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in international badminton team competitions.[1] It is controlled by Badminton Wales, the national organization for badminton in the country. Wales have never participated in the Thomas Cup and the Uber Cup. The team's last appearance in the international stage was at the 2007 Sudirman Cup.

Wales
AssociationBadminton Wales
ConfederationBadminton Europe
PresidentCath McCluskey
BWF ranking
Current ranking68 Decrease 8 (4 April 2023)
Highest ranking36 (7 January 2013)
Sudirman Cup
Appearances8 (first in 1993)
Best resultGroup stage
European Mixed Team Championships
Appearances21 (first in 1972)
Best resultQuarter-finals (1974, 1984, 1986)
European Men's Team Championships
Appearances5 (first in 2006)
Best resultQuarter-finals (2008)
European Women's Team Championships
Appearances5 (first in 2006)
Best resultGroup stage
Helvetia Cup
Appearances14 (first in 1969)
Best resultRunners-up (1983, 1985, 1987)

The Welsh team had participated in the 2020 European Men's and Women's Team Badminton Championships but were defeated in the group stage.

History

Badminton has been played in Wales since the early 1920s. Welsh players then competed in the All England Open Badminton Championships and the Welsh International Championships. In 1928, Badminton Wales (then called the Welsh Badminton Union) was formed. Wales was also one of the nine founder members of the Badminton World Federation.[2][3]

The Welsh national team competed in their first ever international team event when its first few players were sent to qualify for the 1955 Thomas Cup.

Former national player Chris Rees was selected to be the performance coach of the Welsh national badminton team in 2020.[4]

Men's team

The Welsh men's team first competed in the 1955 Thomas Cup qualifiers. The team failed to advance to the inter-zone elimination round after losing 9−0 to Denmark on home soil.[5] The men's team returned to qualify for the 1984 Thomas Cup after a long hiatus.[5] The team beat Finland and the Netherlands 4−1 but lost their chances of entering the second round after losing 4−1 to Sweden. In the qualifiers for the 1986 Thomas Cup, the team won against Finland and Norway but failed to advance further after losing to England.[5]

In the 1990 Thomas Cup qualifiers, the Welsh team made history after they advanced to the semi-final stages for the first time, beating Bulgaria, Spain and Kenya in their group. They then lost to Sweden and Canada in the semi-final stages and failed to edge out against Austria.[5]

The Welsh team competed in the inaugural edition of the European Men's Team Badminton Championships in 2006 but were halted in the group stage.[6] They showed improvement two years later in the 2008 European Men's Team Badminton Championships by not only advancing to the quarter-finals but also topping the group for the very first time.[7] The team were defeated by Germany in the quarter-finals.[8]

Women's team

The Welsh women's team took part in qualifying for the 1986 Uber Cup. The team lost in the first round group stage to Germany, England and Ireland.[9] In the 1996 Uber Cup qualifiers, the team entered the second round after beating Slovenia, Austria and Spain but lost in the second round group stage to Denmark, Scotland and India.[9] The women's team entered the second round for the next few Uber Cup qualifiers but did not advance further.[9]

The women's team also competed in the 2006 European Women's Team Badminton Championships. They failed to get past the group stages.[10]

Mixed team

The Welsh mixed team first competed in the 1969 Helvetia Cup and finished in 5th place. In the 1970 Helvetia Cup, the Welsh team beat Norway in the third place tie.[11] The team also competed in the inaugural edition of the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships in 1972 but were eliminated in the group stages.[12] The team were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 1974 European Mixed Team Championships.

The Welsh team made history by entering the 1983 Helvetia Cup. They lost the final to Germany.[11] The team entered the Helvetia Cup finals two consecutive times in 1985 and 1987 but lost to the Netherlands and Germany respectively.[11]

Competitive record

Commonwealth Games

Mixed team

Year Result
1978 Group stage
1986 Group stage
1994 Group stage
2002 Group stage
2010 Group stage
2014 Group stage

European Team Championships

Helvetia Cup

Junior competitive record

European Junior Team Championships

Mixed team

YearResult
Denmark 1975Group stage
West Germany 1979Group stage
Scotland 1981Quarter-finals
Finland 1983Quarter-finals
Austria 1985Quarter-finals
Poland 1987Group stage
England 1989Group stage
Hungary 1991Group stage
Bulgaria 1993Group stage
Slovakia 1995Group stage
Italy 2009Group stage
Finland 2011Group stage
Turkey 2013Group stage

Mixed team

Year Result
Switzerland 1984 Fourth place
Hungary 1986 9th place
Wales 1988 5th place
Austria 1990 5th place
Czechoslovakia 1992 5th place
Portugal 1996 7th place
Finland 1998 8th place
Austria 2000 10th place
Slovenia 2002 19th place
Austria 2004 Fourth place
Slovakia 2006 15th place

Staff

The following list shows the coaching staff for the national badminton of Wales.

Name Role
Wales Daniel Font Head coach
Wales Luke Bailey Support coach
Wales Chris Rees Performance coach

Players

Men's team

Name DoB/Age Ranking of event
MS MD XD
Andrew Oates (1999-07-29)29 July 1999 (aged 23) 1415 283 229
Nic Strange (1987-03-26)26 March 1987 (aged 36) - - -
Andrew Jones (1997-10-11)11 October 1997 (aged 25) - 554 -
Adam Stewart (1996-03-18)18 March 1996 (aged 27) 1531 554 -
Mo Tsung Fong (1997-05-16)16 May 1997 (aged 25) - - -
Victor Pang (1994-05-11)11 May 1994 (aged 29) - - -
William Kitching (1996-06-12)12 June 1996 (aged 26) - - -
Scott Oates (1998-04-10)10 April 1998 (aged 25) - 283 -

Women's team

Name DoB/Age Ranking of event
WS WD XD
Jordan Hart (1995-01-26)26 January 1995 (aged 28) - 109 -
Jessica Ding (2003-11-27)27 November 2003 (aged 19) 1058 - -
Learna Herkes (2003-10-13)13 October 2003 (aged 19) - - -
Jasmine Owen (2004-03-04)4 March 2004 (aged 19) - - -
Aimie Whiteman (2003-05-23)23 May 2003 (aged 19) 1000 554 1018
Saffron Morris (2007-07-03)3 July 2007 (aged 15) 468 369 229
Alice Palmer (1992-02-26)26 February 1992 (aged 31) - - -
Katie Whiteman (2000-10-13)13 October 2000 (aged 22) - - -

Sudirman Cup

European Team Championships

References

  1. "2007 Sudirman Cup - Groups" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-05-28.
  2. "History". badmintonwales.net. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  3. "Badminton Wales - Brief History". Badminton Wales. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  4. "Badminton Wales welcomes Chris Rees as Performance Coach". www.badmintoneurope.com. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  5. "Archiv Thomas Cup". Mike's Badminton Populorum. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  6. "BWF - 2006 European M & W Team Championships - General". bwf.tournamentsoftware.com. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  7. "BWF - European Men's & Women's Team Championships 2008 - General". bwf.tournamentsoftware.com. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  8. "BWF - European Men's & Women's Team Championships 2008 - Germany - Wales: 3-0". bwf.tournamentsoftware.com. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  9. "Uber Cup Results". World Badminton. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  10. "BWF - 2006 European M & W Team Championships - General". bwf.tournamentsoftware.com. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  11. "EBU-Turniere / Europameisterschaften im Detail Helvetia Cup (B-Klasse Mannschaften)". Mike's Badminton Populorum. Archived from the original on 17 May 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  12. "BadmintonEurope.com - European Mixed Team Championships". badmintoneurope.com. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.