Team Canada Women set for Uber Cup

May 2014

Team Canada Women set for Uber Cup

For Immediate Release

Release #14-05

OTTAWA (May 17, 2014) – The Badminton Canada Senior Women’s National Team starts play on Sunday at the 2014 Uber Cup, the women’s world team championship, in New Delhi, India. 

Team Canada, which has qualified to the biennial event for the first time since 2004, has been seeded 9-16 in the 16-team tournament, and drawn into Pool C with Thailand, the hosts India and Hong Kong.

The Canadian team will be led by a pair of 2012 Olympians: Alexandra Bruce of Toronto and Grace Gao of Calgary (who currently trains in South Korea). The remainder of the six-person squad includes Vancouver residents Phyllis Chan and Joycelyn Ko and Torontonians Rachel Honderich and Brittney Tam.

“We have a good mix of athletes going to this prestigious event. I think we will have our hands full as we play some of the most powerful nations in the world,” said Ram Nayyar, High Performance Director of Badminton Canada. “We have some very young athletes on this team who will have a great opportunity to learn from our two Olympians as well as the veteran players on the team.”

Canada opens play on Sunday night, May 18, at 7 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. Eastern) as they face the host squad from India, who are seeded 5-8. On Monday night, Team Canada faces Thailand, the group favourites who are seeded No. 3-4, and they conclude group play on Tuesday night against Hong Kong. The top two finishers from each of the four groups will advance to the quarterfinals, which are set for Thursday, with the semi-finals following on Friday and the championship match on Saturday, May 24.

“The goal will be to exceed our expectations!” said Nayyar.