Tahiti are top seed in the Badminton Teams Event
Team Tahiti has scored top seeding for the Badminton team event at the Samoa Pacific Games and will be tough competition.
“It’s going to be pretty hard to beat Tahiti and will probably take quite a few of the seedings in the individual events,” said Badminton Oceania Secretary General Julie Carrel.
She also mentioned one of the key players from Team Tahiti to look out for during the competition, 23-year-old, Rémi Rossi.
“He is in Tahiti at the moment, back from France and training with the team. He’s Tahitian born and bred, but he’s studying in France and he comes back to play in the Oceania Championship every year,” she continues. “He’s pretty motivated.”
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Remi Ross in action at the Oceania Badminton Championships in February (Photo: Badzine.net)
She is very positive about Team Samoa’s chances.
“Expect some surprises, we’ve got a lot of youngsters that are coming through just being better all the time. So we’ve got the Chinese coach here now and they just keep improving.”
As Badminton’s Technical Delegate her three-day trip to Samoa to assist the organising committee with preparations before the Games has been a success.
“We’re very happy, from arriving with the changes at the airport and then seeing all the streets…it looks good. The venue is going to work really well for badminton, so we’re very happy,” she said.
“We’ll be able to stage international events here because the venue will comply with international regulations. It’s got good lighting, good height, it’ll work really well for us.”
Even though Samoa only had 18 months to prepare to host the Games, Julie is certain the country is ready to cater for more than 4,000 athletes arriving soon as the countdown the Opening Ceremony on 7 July continues.
“Well, from a badminton perspective, I think we’re in a good state. I know our badminton players are really excited and looking forward to it.”
Badminton will run from 8-13 July 2019 at the new Multi-Sport Centre in the Faleata Sports Complex with Netball following from 15-20 July 2019.
