19 September, 2023
A nine-strong England team are heading Stateside for the upcoming BWF World Junior Championships in Spokane, Washington.
Across two weeks of action from 24 September – 8 October the players will first compete together in the team competition, before individual action towards the end of the Championships.
The England team travelling out consists of Chloe Dennis, Tashvi Parab, Oliver Butler, Ben Hammond, Robin Harper, Leona Lee, Lucy Brierley, Michael Pang, and Harry Wakefield.
Parab will be at the Championships for the second time after making her debut a year ago in Santander, and is now looking to build on that experience in the US.
She said: “I’m very excited to be attending my second World Championships.
“I learnt a lot last year and I’m very excited to implement all those new things into this tournament, and I’m excited to be playing against the best players in the world.”
Elsewhere, Brierley is making her event debut and is looking to embrace the occasion in what will be the biggest competition of her career so far.
Brierley added: “I’m quite excited for the trip. I’m going to be the youngest on the team so I’m just going to try and feel no pressure, try and have fun, and play well.”
Forty nations have entered the team competition, which will see ties contested over all five disciplines – men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles.
England have been drawn in Group C and their opening match is against Poland, before then taking on Malaysia – the top seeds in their pool.
That will then be followed by ties against Latvia and Austria, with their group positioning after all four matches determining which playoff section they enter.
Should England win their group, they will enter the top playoff group, determined first to eighth place in the Championships, while a second-place finish in their group would see them contest the 9-16th place playoffs; the same system follows for all ranking playoffs, the lowest being the 33-40th place playoffs.
Once team action has concluded on 30th September, all players will have a short break from competition before the individual event from 2-8 October.
Ahead of travelling, the team have taken part in an intense training camp at the National Badminton Centre this weekend, under the guidance of coach Kat Hurrell, who will be joined in the US by Wimbledon Academy head coach Stuart Wardell.
Kat said: “I’m very excited to be travelling to the USA this week with our team to compete in the World Junior Championships.
“We have a mix within the team of players who have been to the event before, and some who will be experiencing it for the first time. We have had a busy summer leading up to the event to try to prepare everyone as best as we can in the hope that we can go there and compete well.
“There have been some really good performances in tournaments and lots of hard work in training which is giving us good momentum going into the Championships.
“The players should feel confident in the work they have put in over the summer and should be hungry for the competition and the chance to step up and show what they can do on the world stage.
“For me, I would like to see the players grow regardless of the outcome of the matches and use this event to move on to big things as they transition out of juniors.
“I know that we have a very good team this year who will throw everything they can at the event and will do their very best to achieve as much as they can.”
The team are heading to Spokane with special thanks to Yonex, the official clothing supplier of the England National Team.
England Team heading to Spokane
Lucy Brierley
Oliver Butler
Chloe Dennis
Ben Hammond
Robin Harper
Leona Lee
Michael Pang
Tashvi Parab
Harry Wakefield
