Badminton success
Joy Lai has been playing badminton from an early age and was introduced to the sport by her mother.
The Year 11 student recently competed at the National U19 Championships in Tasmania where she took out first place in the Women’s Singles against the No.3 seed in a thrilling three game encounter.
“I was quite tired afterwards, and being the first match of three for the day, I had to keep on top of getting enough of a break for the next couple of matches.”
It was a great tournament for Joy, winning the Women’s Doubles along with Grace Ngiam (QLD) and the Mixed Doubles with Justin Lee (NSW).
Joy’s talents in badminton have seen her travel the world, competing in China, the USA, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand as well as Australia. She also competes in Ivanhoe Grammar School’s Boys’ Firsts Badminton team (the School does not have a Girls’ Firsts team) when national commitments permit. She remains undefeated in singles competition – despite competing against male players, some of whom have been much older and talented state representatives.
The Ivanhoe Grammar School student combines her VCE studies with a very demanding schedule of national and international tournaments. In order to manage her complex study and elite sports commitments Joy manages her time very judiciously.
Joy’s next major competition will be one of the most prestigious tournaments in badminton – the 2015 TOTAL BWF World Championships which will be held in Indonesia.
“Because it’s during the Olympic qualifying period, a lot of the top players will be playing to gain points to boost up their ranking,” Joy said.
This talented teen is committed to her sport and hopes to make the Australian Olympic Squad for Rio in 2016.
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