WESTERN Suburbs Badminton Association will send five of its rising stars to the Li-Ning Victorian International, a three-day event at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre starting on Thursday.
The event has attracted a long list of quality players from across the globe and WSBA manager Ron Gray said the level of competition would provide a good learning experience for the west’s best youngsters.
“Most of the players we’ve put in are in our development squad,” he said.
“It will be great for them to play against players at that level to improve their game. They will be up against tried and tested low-level international players.”
Ann-Louise Slee is the form player of the five and most experienced. A former national player, she is entered in singles, doubles and mixed and is best placed for a shot at glory.
The 24 year old from Werribee lines up fresh from a clean sweep of those three events at the recent Altona Open.
Slee has a dream start in the singles via a free pass to the second round.
She will team up with regular partner Eugenia Tanaka in the women’s doubles and will form an intriguing partnership with Ong Ben Teong.
“He [Ong] won a gold medal for Malaysia in the 1982 Commonwealth Games,” Gray said.
“He’s still very competitive in his 50s. No one knows his way around a badminton court better.”
The other four WSBA entrants are teenagers James Audley and David Cutroni, along with Tegan Berry and Stephen Nguyen.
