Elton Zhang and Ryan Venpin take on Australia and New Zeland Under 17s Juniors.
Every year, Badminton Australia runs the Under 17s June Bevan Trophy and the Australasian U17 Championships over the Easter break. An event looked forward to by all competitive juniors, the weeklong carnival is a showcase of the best players from Australia and New Zealand in the under 17’s age group. This year’s events were held in Madley, Western Australia.
Badminton Academy of Victoria’s Elton Zhang and Ryan Venpin were selected for the Victorian State teams, which have had strong results throughout the history of the June Bevan Trophy Team Championships. The Victorian Rebels, featuring Elton, placed third this year, and not far behind were the Victorian Demons, featuring Ryan, in fifth place.
Following the team event is the individuals’ tournament, the Australasian Under 17s Championships. Elton had a great run in the Boys Singles event, knocking out the No. 1 seed and reaching the Quarter Finals. Unfortunately, he came just short in the Mixed Doubles, unable to overcome the 5/8 seeded pair from New South Wales.
Ryan’s standout ranking gave him a 3/4 seed in the Boys Singles event but settled for Quarter Finals instead. Ryan also earned a 5/8 seed in the Mixed Doubles event but just missed out on Quarter Finals.
For the Boys Doubles event, Elton teamed up with fellow BAV representative, Ryan, for the first time on an international stage. They made a great impression, just coming shy of the Quarter Finals, losing out to a 3/4 seed from New South Wales.
Congratulations to Elton on his final June Bevan Trophy and Australasian Under 17 Championships! And to Ryan for being selected for his first June Bevan Trophy.
We also wish to acknowledge BAV coach, Lenny Permana for flying up there to present the Australasian Under 17s Championship trophies and awards to the well deserving winners, and facilitate the Badminton Australia training camp for the National Junior Squad team of the Under 17s Youth Development division.
And a fun fact here: Just 10 years ago, Lenny was the team coach for the Victorian Rebels, who won second place that year. See if you can spot our BAV players in the team that year:
Thank you to the parents who went down to support the players and the teams at the 2016 U17 June Bevan Trophy and Australasian Under 17s Championships, Badminton Victoria and the team managers and coaches, Badminton Australia, and the hosts for this year’s event, Badminton Association of Western Australia. Full results for this year's June Bevan Trophy can be found here and for the Australasian Under 17s Championships, results can be found here.
We look forward to the rest of this year’s tournaments and competitions! Watch this space or ‘Like’ us on Facebook for more news on your favourite BAV players!