Richard Vaughan - GBR

Shoes: 4:SYS Badminton

My Personal Details

Date of Birth: 16th April 1978

Place of Birth: Caerphilly

Living: Llanbradach

Height: 183cm

Future Goal: Beijing Olympics 2008

Racket: Carlton Airblade Elite

Shoes: Hi-Tec 4:SYS Badminton

Sponsors: Hi Tec, Carlton

British Ranking: No.1

Highest World Ranking: No.7 (2002)

Current World Ranking: No.29 (Jan. 2005)

International Caps: 96

First Cap Vs. Ireland: Thomas Cup 1994

Welsh National Titles: 7

About me on court

Coach: Zhou Junling

Current Club: Issy les Moulineaux (France)

Previous Clubs: Horsens (Denmark); Weisbaden (Germany); Friedrichshafen (Germany)

Where did you start playing: Bargoed club for juniors set up by Malcom Davies and Norton Blunt

Notable Junior Achievements: Europe No.1, wining Home Countries Quad with Wales

About me off court

Hobbies: Football and other sports

Favourite food: Italian

Favourite films: The classics and horror films!

Favourite book: travel books

Tips for young players: Simply to follow your dreams (but you need to know what your dreams are first!)

Website: www.richardvaughan.net


SOUTH AUSTRALIAN OPEN WIN MAKES IT 3 TITLES IN 2006

Wales's Richard Vaughan won the South Australian Open in Melbourne between the 26&29th July.

Vaughan met India's Kanetkar for the 3rd time in 2006 in the final, on the two previous occasions Vaughan had won in close matches the last being the final of South Africa last month. Vaughan kept up the winning record with a close 22-20, 21-13 win.

Vaughan said "This is another great win for me, again I had a number of testing matches to get through to reach the final, and the final itself was a tough match all the way through. So it was a good physical test to get through and I will only benefit from the match practice. "

In the first round Richard beat Sharp from Australia 21-10, 21-10, next he beat Commonwealth Games ¼ Finalist Karenanaratne from Sri Lanka 21-11 22-20. The ¼ final saw Richard defeat up and coming New Zealander G.Tam 21-10 21-14. In the Semi Final Richard beat World No 32 from Germany Hueckstaedt 21-12 21-7. Kanetkar defeated Australian No1 Gomez in the ¼ final, and Taiwan's Chen in the semi final.

The draw is out for next weeks 2* Grand Prix in New Zealand, Richard has a tough draw with a 2nd round match versus former world No 7 Ismail from Malaysia who recently reached the ¼ final of the 6* Singapore Grand Prix, and has previously been ranked in the Worlds top 10.

VAUGHAN WINS 4th INTERNATIONAL TITLE IN 6 MONTHS.

Wales's Richard Vaughan won his 4th International title in 6 months by winning the Kenyan Open in Nairobi on Saturday 19th August. Vaughan beat Jan Frohlich from the Czech Rep in the final 21-14, 21-16. Vaughan said "Its another good win especially given the traveling which was tiring after the US open last weekend, the conditions were also a little testing as it was pretty hot on the court. Both sets were relatively close but I was just happy to close out both the match in straight sets."

The win means Vaughan's ranking will now move up to 34 in the world and see's him ranked as the 2nd highest British player, this in only 6 months of tournaments.

Vaughan's next tournaments are now the Waikato Open in New Zealand followed by the Australian Open in Brisbane. Vaughan said "Waikato and the Australian Opens will see me play six tournaments in seven weeks playing all over the world. So it s going to be tough not only with concentration levels with jet lag but also with limited training opportunities due to traveling on my own. The tournaments are also going to prove strong with players from China and Singapore taking part on top of the usual New Zealand, Australian, and Europeans players". If Vaughan can get results like the ones achieved in the New Zealand Open, and South Australian Opens in July then he would move closer to his target of the Worlds Top 20 which was his target at the start of his tournament programme six months ago.

Vaughan said "The next group of tournaments are going to be important for securing funding through the new UK funding system which is depended upon world ranking, its not ideal to be playing so many tournaments especially now when I should be in training for the large Grand Prix tournaments in November, however I have little choice and I am extremely greatful to my sponsors Carlton, Hi Tec, and especially to the large Welsh food manufacturer 'Memory Lane Cakes' who have been very supportive giving me the opportunity to be able to get to these current tournaments."

"Over the past months I have been highly disappointed by some comments made regards my situation, especially given my proven track record, and dedication in training. However many people have been very supportive a classical example of this has been the Sports Councils for Wales Sport Science department have been really essential in allowing me not only to get back to full heath but also on track for full fitness levels which will just take time. I have also found helping coach some of the country's top juniors through my own Academy supported by Memory Lane Cakes to be very rewarding, in return the support of the younger players has been very refreshing. We have lots of great young Badminton talent in Wales and these have the potential to compete on the World stage and with the London 2012 Olympics not so far round the corner the hard work of developing athletes has to be done now and not the year before London."

"I would also like to thank the Welsh Commonwealth Games Team for my selection last March, the Games came 6 months too early for me and I was only able to compete in the mixed doubles event, although my partner and I did perform well it was difficult not being able to compete in the singles event to at least equal the bronze medal I won in Manchester. The Games provided me with a great starting block to get back on to the International badminton scene after my period of illness, and the current results were greatly helped by the start there".

November 06, Vaughan was forced to withdraw in the Welsh International due to an injury he got while training 2 weeks ago for this tournement. Richard was disapointed in dropping out in his home tournement especially after having not played in this tournement for the last 2 years. Richard was top seed for the event.