National Junior badminton squad at Nadi International Airport. Photo: Fiji Badminton Association

The national badminton junior team flew out of the country on Sunday to participate at the Oceania Junior Championship 2017 in Noumea, New Caledonia.

The seven-member team of Liam Fong, Justin Tang, Chang Ho Kim, Monica Chan, Carmen Loo, Sonali Kumar and Shristi Nadan had been training hard for the last few months in anticipation for a tough competition.

In a press release, the Fiji Badminton Association stated that although most of players are competing internationally for the first time, they are excited of the challenge that lies ahead of them.

Team manager and coach Steven Low said Fiji has not sent a team to compete internationally for a few years now and this is a development squad they are taking to the Under-19 Oceania competition.

We hope that these players will do well and also learn a lot from the tour to be able to keep pushing their standard of play higher and ultimately make the national team, he said.

Association vice-president Dennis Fong said they are currently in a rebuilding phase and this is the first step towards ensuring that they continue to dominate badminton and win gold during the Pacific Games and other meets in the region.

Our goal is to send a team to upcoming international tournaments as well as to the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and raise our level of competition.

We thank all the players, parents and administrators who worked hard to ensure that this tour was possible.

We have also put in place strategic plans for the next few years and we are looking to grow the sport in Fiji, added Fong.

The Oceania Junior Championship brings together teams from New Zealand, Australia, Tahiti, Guam, New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga to compete for regional honours.

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Fiji Juniors Take On Oceania's Best - Fiji Sun Online