Leanne Choo

Leanne Choo
Personal information
Country	Australia
Born	5 June 1991 Adelaide, South Australia
Residence	Melbourne, Victoria
Height	1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	57 kg (126 lb)
Handedness	Left
Mixed Doubles
Highest ranking	28 (7/14/2015)
Current ranking	28
Medal record Representing  Australia Women's Badminton Oceania Badminton Championships 2016 Auckland Mixed Doubles 2015 Auckland Women's Doubles 2015 Auckland Mixed Doubles 2012 Ballarat Women's Singles 2012 Ballarat Women's Doubles 2012 Ballarat Mixed Doubles 2010 Invercargill Women's Singles 2010 Invercargill Women's Doubles 2010 Invercargill Mixed Doubles
BWF profile
Updated on 4 Jan 2016.

Leanne Choo (born 5 June, 1991) is a female badminton player from Australia. Choo is the reigning Oceania Champion in women's and mixed doubles. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics, alongside former women's doubles partner, Renuga Veteran. Choo is scheduled to be competing at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Personal

Leanne, nicknamed Choo, Choobuka and Cheanne Loo, was born in Adelaide, South Australia. She attended Glen Osmond Primary School and later graduated from Glenunga International High School. In 2010, she enrolled at the University of Adelaide to study a degree in architecture.^[1][2] Choo is a member of the Sturt Badminton Club, the largest badminton club in South Australia.^[3]

Career

Early Career - 2012

Choo started playing badminton when she was eight years old.^[1] She rose to prominence as a junior becoming the first South Australian to win a triple crown at a national event. Due to her ongoing success, she was made a member of the Australian National Team. As a member of the national team, she is based at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, in Melbourne, Victoria.^[4]

Choo has represented Australia multiple times including at the 2006, 2007 and 2009 BWF World Junior Championships. She continued representing Australia at a junior level at the 2007 Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney and the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India. Her senior debut was at the 2010 Uber Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She also competed at the 2012 edition in Wuhan, China. Choo has also represented Australia at the World Mixed Team Championships, the Sudirman Cup in 2011 and 2015.^[1]

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, Choo began her partnership with Renuga Veeran. The pair almost staged an upset in the quarterfinals against the number one seeds from Singapore, Yao Lei and Shinta Mulia Sari. This was the first international tournament that Choo and Veeran had competed in.^[2][5] The duo officially formed their partnership soon afterwards.

Choo and Veeran competed at the 2011 BWF World Championships in London where they reached the second round. The pair demolished Steffi Annys and Severine Corvilain of Germany 21-6 21-9 in the first round before losing to 10th seeds, and eventual bronze medalists of the 2012 Summer Olympics, Valeria Sorokina and Nina Vislova of Russia in three games.^[6]

2012 Summer Olympics

Choo was named as part of Australia's badminton team for the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London and made her Olympic debut as a 21-year-old.^[2][7][8][9] At the end of the Olympic qualifying period, Choo and Veeran were ranked 35th in the world. During the qualifying process, their ranking peaked at 26.^[10] At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Choo and Veeran performed well in their round robin matches thrashing their South African opponents and staying in contention with their Korean and Indonesian opponents, ranked world number three end eight respectively at the time. Unfortunately, they placed third in their pool and could not advance to the quarterfinals.

However, four pairs including Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii of Indonesia and Ha Jung Eun and Kim Min Jung of Korea were disqualified from the competition. The pairings were disqualified for "not using ones's best efforts to win a match" and "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport" as they were intentionally trying to lose matches in order to secure an easier quarterfinal draw.

The duo advance to the quarterfinals, where they were defeated by Alex Bruce and Michelle Li of Canada. They were awarded a 5th placing, the best result in Australia's history of Olympic badminton.^[11][12]

Results from 2012 Summer Olympics

Round	Date	Opponent	Score	Result
Group C Pool Match 1	28/07/2012	Meiliana Jauhari Greysia Polii	21-0 21-0 (DSQ) (11-21 21-19 14-21)	Win
Group C Pool Match 2	29/07/2012	Michelle Claire Edwards Annari Viljoen	21-9 21-7	Win
Group C Pool Match 2	30/07/2012	Ha Jung Eun Kim Min Jung	21-0 21-0 (DSQ) (7-21 19-21)	Win
Quarterfinals	1/08/2012	Alex Bruce Michelle Li	9-21 21-18 18-21	Loss

2014 - Present

In April 2014, Choo formed her partnership with Robin Middleton in the Mixed Doubles. In June 2016, the pair qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Individual Finals

Mixed Doubles with Robin Middleton

Year	Tournament	Venue	Opponents	Score	Result
2016	Oceania Championships	Tahiti, French Polynesia	Anthony Joe Joy Lai	21-11 21-9	Winner
2015	Sydney International	Sydney, Australia	Phillip Chew Jamie Subandhi	21-8 21-17	Winner
	Maribrynong International	Melbourne, Australia	Sawan Serasinghe Setyana Mapasa	17-21 21-19 21-19	Winner
	Sri Lanka International	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Arun Vishnu Aparna Balun	21-15 17-21 13-21	Runner Up
	Oceania Championships	Auckland, New Zealand	Oliver Leydon-Davis Danielle Tahuri	21-12 21-14	Winner

References

1. "Badminton Australia: Leanne Choo". Badminton Australia. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
2. "London 2012 – Leanne Choo". London2012.olympics.com.au. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
3. "Elite members". Sturt Badminton Club Inc. Retrieved 2015-06-18.
4. "Badminton Australia: Athlete Profiles". Badminton.org.au. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
5. "tournamentsoftware.com - Commonwealth Games 2010 - General". www.tournamentsoftware.com. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
6. "tournamentsoftware.com - Yonex BWF World Championships 2011 - General". www.tournamentsoftware.com. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
7. "Australian Olympic badminton team named". Nine MSN. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
8. "Aussies name badminton line-up – ABC Grandstand Sport (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
9. AAP (15 June 2012). "Bendigo's Warfe named in Olympic squad – Local News – Sport – Badminton". Bendigo Advertiser. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
10. "London 2012 – Renuga Veeran". London2012.olympics.com.au. 20 June 1986. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
11. "2012 London Olympics -- Eight badminton players disqualified for trying to lose matches". Retrieved 2015-06-02.
12. "Aussies benefit from badminton tanking scandal". ABC Grandstand Sport. Retrieved 2015-06-02.