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The two athletes who put Australian Para-badminton on the map at the sport’s inaugural Paralympic tournament at Tokyo 2020 have declared their intent to compete at the Paris Games in 2024.
This time, however, Grant Manzoney and Caitlin Dransfield will almost certainly face stiffer competition to secure a place on the Australian Paralympic Team – and it’s largely an outcome of their own doing.
“I’m speaking to people a lot who are talking about their dreams of going for gold and asking more about the sport,” Manzoney said.
“It’s just such a thrill to hear from people who perhaps haven’t played much before or have come from other sports and decided they’re going to give Para-badminton a go. If that’s come from seeing Caitlin and I go to a Paralympic Games, then I’d say that’s a massive positive for everyone.”
The popularity of Para-badminton since Tokyo 2020 will be evident at the Oceania Championships at Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre from July 29 to 31, where there is set to be a record number of entrants. Manzoney will be seeking his third consecutive singles title in the WH2 classification, while Dransfield won the SL3-SL4 title in 2018 but was forced to miss the last edition.
“This is a really important tournament for me because last time with Oceania I was injured, so I wasn’t able to defend my title,” Dransfield said. “I want to get that title back so I can say that I am the best in Oceania again.”
Dransfield said these Championships were an important stepping stone to Paris. She will play at tournaments in Thailand and Indonesia this year, culminating in the Para-Badminton World Championships in Japan in November, after which she said she wanted to be in the top 10 in the world in her classification.
“Tokyo was great, but because of Covid I didn’t get to experience a lot of what the Paralympics is normally like,” Dransfield said. “I’d love to go to Paris and just experience the whole atmosphere again. I’ve definitely improved my game since Tokyo.”
Manzoney said his motivation to play at Paris 2024 had increased since the Tokyo Games.
“It really solidified things for me,” he said. “Having that first Games experience lit a fire in me to pursue Paris and a couple of world championships along the way. We’ll weigh up what happens after that, but at the moment I’m training hard and playing tournaments this year and then next year leading into the Games.”
Despite his focus on competing again on the biggest stage, Manzoney is increasingly committing to helping developing players enjoy the sport he loves. Recently, he assisted Para-badminton head coach Ian Bridge at a camp for developing players at Paralympics Australia’s headquarters at Essendon Football Club. At a tournament he contested in Dubai in May, he also took on Australian team manager duties.
“Since playing at the Paralympics there are suddenly a whole lot of people who know what I’ve done and if through that I can be of any help to pass on a bit of knowledge to people about what it takes to get to a Games, then I think it’s incumbent upon me to help out where I can,” he said.
“It’s such a positive outcome that Para-badminton was included at the Games, but also that there were two Australians there. I was at a couple of international tournaments not long ago and just the amount of new players we had was amazing.
“We’d generally have the same few players going to all the tournaments, whereas all of a sudden in Dubai we had nine and, of those, five were at their first International which was fantastic.
“With the Oceania championships next week, we’ve got a record number of entries. The entries from Australia alone exceeds what we got in total from New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji at the last Oceania Championships, in 2020.”
Manzoney said there were a number of players on the scene now who could reach Paralympic level.
“For some of the older players who are just getting into it, it’s just all about participation,” he added.
“We want them to enjoy the sport, play in tournaments and, if they’ve got a dream, then with a bit of hard work you just never know.”
By: David Sygall, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 25 July 2022
