Meriden students, Sydney Tjonadi and Isabella Yan, have been recognised as two of Australia’s top-performing badminton players, with the girls invited to join Badminton Australia’s National Development Program. Sydney and Isabella are the first young people to be appointed to the high-performance program and its national team, the Junior Falcons.
Isabella, who has been playing badminton for over four years, took out first place in both the Under 13 Singles and Doubles events at the 2020 Western Suburbs Badminton Association Championships.
“Being involved in the National Development Program makes me really happy but it’s also a big responsibility as I’m representing the nation’s young players,” Isabella said.
Isabella said she is feeling excited, and a little nervous, as she prepares for the Under 17 2021 National Championships, which will be held in Perth in April.
Sydney is also heading to this elite-level event, having performed strongly at the 2019 Sydney International and the 2019 Australian Junior International. At just fourteen years old, Sydney already has a Badminton World Federation Women’s Doubles Ranking.
“I’m looking forward to getting ready for the National Championships by training daily with players and coaches from the National Development Program,” she said.
“I want to learn as much as I can, especially at the camps we participate in at the Australian Institute of Sport, but also I look forward to having fun with my teammates.”
In addition to their club and national commitments, Isabella and Sydney will play for Meriden in the School’s burgeoning Interschool Badminton Competition, which commences this Saturday. The girls will play together as members of Team 1 and alongside forty-one Meriden teams entered in the tournament.
The Meriden community wishes Isabella and Sydney the very best as they continue to go from strength to strength in their chosen sport. We know they will represent our School and young Australian badminton players proudly.
