Gronya Somerville

Gronya Somerville
Gronya Somerville
Personal information
Country	Australia
Born	10 May 1995 (age 29); Carlton, Melbourne, Australia
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	62 kg (137 lb)
Handedness	Right
Women's & mixed doubles
Highest ranking	18 (WD with Setyana Mapasa, 2 March 2017); 43 (XD with Kenneth Choo, 31 October 2023); 51 (XD with Simon Leung, 17 March 2020)
Current ranking	56 (WD with Kaitlyn Ea); 44 (XD with Kenneth Choo) (16 April 2024)
Medal record
Women's badminton
Representing Australia
Oceania Championships
Oceania Mixed Team Championships
Oceania Women's Team Championships
	BWF profile

Gronya Somerville (born 10 May 1995) is an Australian badminton player specializing in doubles.^[2] She has won nine Oceania Championships titles, six in the women's doubles and three in the mixed doubles.

Personal life

Somerville, born to an Australian mother of Anglo-Celtic origin and a Chinese father, became famous when it was revealed that she is the descendant of a prominent Qing dynasty political reformer, Kang Youwei.^[3] She is studying exercise science at Victoria University.^[4]^[when?]

Career

Somerville's skills were discovered during a badminton talent identification program which she attended after receiving a flyer from her primary school PE teacher when she was about 12 or 13.^[5]^[6] Born in Melbourne in 1995, Somerville first captured the media's attention as a young player in 2012 at the Uber Cup in central China's Hubei Province.^[3]

She won gold medals at the 2014 Oceania Badminton Championships in women's doubles and mixed team events. Her current partners are Setyana Mapasa in women's doubles and Simon Leung in mixed doubles. She represented her country at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.^[7] Together with Mapasa, they managed to win Australia's first ever Grand Prix title in 2016, after winning the Canada Open.^[8] They also won the Dutch Open in the same year.^[9] In 2017, she and Mapasa won the women's doubles title at the Oceania Championships, and a silver in the mixed doubles event partnered with Joel Findlay.^[10]

She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the women's and mixed doubles but was eliminated in the group stage in both events.^[11]

Achievements

Oceania Championships

Women's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Ken Kay Badminton Hall, Ballarat, Australia	Jacqueline Guan	Jacinta Joe Louisa Ma	21–14, 21–17	Gold
2015	X-TRM North Harbour Badminton Centre, Auckland, New Zealand	Leanne Choo	Talia Saunders Jennifer Tam	21–14, 21–11	Gold
2016	Punaauia University Hall, Papeete, Tahiti	Melinda Sun	Tiffany Ho Jennifer Tam	17–21, 21–19, 20–22	Silver
2017	Salle Anewy, Nouméa, New Caledonia	Setyana Mapasa	Tiffany Ho Joy Lai	16–21, 21–18, 21–14	Gold
2018	Eastlink Badminton Stadium, Hamilton, New Zealand	Setyana Mapasa	Leanne Choo Renuga Veeran	21–14, 22–20	Gold
2019	Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, Melbourne, Australia	Setyana Mapasa	Yingzi Jiang Louisa Ma	21–10, 21–9	Gold
2020	Ken Kay Badminton Stadium, Ballarat, Australia	Setyana Mapasa	Sally Fu Alyssa Tagle	21–9, 21–10	Gold
2022	Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, Melbourne, Australia	Kaitlyn Ea	Joyce Choong Sylvina Kurniawan	19–21, 15–21	Silver
2023	Auckland Badminton Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand	Joyce Choong	Sylvina Kurniawan Setyana Mapasa	19–21, 11–21	Bronze
2024	Leisuretime Sports Precinct, Geelong, Australia	Kaitlyn Ea	Setyana Mapasa Angela Yu	18–21, 11–21	Silver

Mixed doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2012	Ken Kay Badminton Hall, Ballarat, Australia	Ross Smith	Glenn Warfe Leanne Choo	11–21, 17–21	Bronze
2014	Ken Kay Badminton Hall, Ballarat, Australia	Raymond Tam	Oliver Leydon-Davis Susannah Leydon-Davis	19–21, 19–21	Bronze
2015	X-TRM North Harbour Badminton Centre, Auckland, New Zealand	Matthew Chau	Oliver Leydon-Davis Danielle Tahuri	15–21, 21–19, 14–21	Bronze
2017	Salle Anewy, Nouméa, New Caledonia	Joel Findlay	Sawan Serasinghe Setyana Mapasa	19–21, 9–21	Silver
2019	Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, Melbourne, Australia	Simon Leung	Sawan Serasinghe Khoo Lee Yen	21–18, 21–15	Gold
2020	Ken Kay Badminton Stadium, Ballarat, Australia	Simon Leung	Pham Tran Hoang Sylvina Kurniawan	21–12, 21–8	Gold
2022	Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, Melbourne, Australia	Kenneth Choo	Oliver Leydon-Davis Anona Pak	21–18, 19–21, 21–12	Gold
2023	Auckland Badminton Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand	Kenneth Choo	Lim Ming Chuen Sylvina Kurniawan	21–12, 21–16	Gold
2024	Leisuretime Sports Precinct, Geelong, Australia	Kenneth Choo	Edward Lau Shaunna Li	21–11, 25–27, 21–14	Gold

BWF World Tour (1 title)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,^[12] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.^[13]

Women's doubles

Year	Tournament	Level	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2019	Canada Open	Super 100	Setyana Mapasa	Chang Ye-na Kim Hye-rin	21–16, 21–14	Winner

BWF Grand Prix (2 titles)

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017.

Women's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2016	Canada Open	Setyana Mapasa	Heather Olver Lauren Smith	21–15, 21–16	Winner
2016	Dutch Open	Setyana Mapasa	Gabriela Stoeva Stefani Stoeva	17–21, 21–17, 21–16	Winner

BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (9 titles, 14 runners-up)

Women's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Auckland International	Leanne Choo	Chang Ching-hui Chang Hsin-tien	11–6, 8–11, 10–11, 9–11	Runner-up
2015	Waikato International	Setyana Mapasa	Ruwindi Serasinghe Alice Wu	21–13, 21–10	Winner
2015	Auckland International	Setyana Mapasa	Pan Tzu-chin Tsai Hsin-yu	21–9, 21–5	Winner
2015	Maribyrnong International	Setyana Mapasa	Chen Hsuan-yu Shu Yu-lin	20–22, 17–21, 21–18	Winner
2015	Sydney International	Setyana Mapasa	Jongkolphan Kititharakul Rawinda Prajongjai	13–21, 5–21	Runner-up
2015	Norwegian International	Setyana Mapasa	Amanda Madsen Isabella Nielsen	21–5, 21–13	Winner
2015	Italian International	Setyana Mapasa	Gabriela Stoeva Stefani Stoeva	19–21, 21–18, 6–13 retired	Runner-up
2016	Brazil International	Setyana Mapasa	Chisato Hoshi Naru Shinoya	13–21, 19–21	Runner-up
2017	Nouméa International	Setyana Mapasa	Tiffany Ho Joy Lai	21–11, 21–8	Winner
2019	South Australia International	Setyana Mapasa	Rin Iwanaga Kie Nakanishi	15–21, 21–19, 9–21	Runner-up
2019	Nepal International	Setyana Mapasa	K. Maneesha Rutaparna Panda	21–10, 18–21, 21–11	Winner
2019	Yonex / K&D Graphics International	Setyana Mapasa	Rachel Honderich Kristen Tsai	14–21, 21–9, 21–18	Winner
2021	Irish Open	Chen Hsuan-yu	Debora Jille Cheryl Seinen	21–15, 14–21, 14–21	Runner-up
2022	North Harbour International	Chen Hsuan-yu	Sung Shuo-yun Yu Chien-hui	19–21, 17–21	Runner-up

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2013	Auckland International	Raymond Tam	Ross Smith Renuga Veeran	16–21, 12–21	Runner-up
2015	Waikato International	Matthew Chau	Sawan Serasinghe Setyana Mapasa	13–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2015	Turkey International	Matthew Chau	Robert Mateusiak Nadieżda Zięba	12–21, 13–21	Runner-up
2019	Waikato International	Simon Leung	Hiroki Midorikawa Natsu Saito	15–21, 13–21	Runner-up
2023	Dutch International	Kenneth Choo	Brandon Yap Annie Lado	21–18, 23–21	Winner
2023	Mongolia International	Kenneth Choo	Tanakorn Meechai Fungfa Korpthammakit	22–20, 21–17	Winner
2023	Bendigo International	Kenneth Choo	Chen Sheng-fa Lin Jhih-yun	21–12, 14–21, 11–21	Runner-up
2023	Sydney International	Kenneth Choo	Chen Sheng-fa Lin Jhih-yun	18–21, 11–21	Runner-up
2024	Uganda International	Kenneth Choo	Sathish Kumar Karunakaran Aadya Variyath	20–22, 21–18, 19–21	Runner-up

BWF International Challenge tournament

BWF International Series tournament

BWF Future Series tournament

References

^ "Player Info: Gronya Somerville". BadmintonLink. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
^ "Players: Gronya Somerville". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
^ ^a ^b Liu, Kiki, ed. (20 May 2015). "Gronya Somerville: Australian Following in Footsteps of Badminton Ace Lin Dan". Women of China. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016.
^ Rogers, Andrew (10 April 2016). "East Brunswick badminton player Gronya Somerville chasing her Olympic dream". Moreland Leader. Retrieved 25 March 2017 – via Herald Sun.
^ Levy, Megan (5 May 2016). "'Next badminton icon': Australia's Gronya Somerville to take on world's best". The North West Star. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
^ "Gronya Somerville: Courting success in sport and in life". Australia Plus. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
^ "Commonwealth Games Team Announced". Badminton Australia. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
^ "Canada Open 2016 Finals – 1 takes 3rd, 3 take 1st". Badzine. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
^ "Mapasa and Somerville Win Second GP Title at Dutch Open". Badminton Australia. Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
^ "New Zealand, Australia Dominate Finals". Badminton Oceania. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
^ "Somerville Gronya". Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
^ Alleyne, Gayle (19 March 2017). "BWF Launches New Events Structure". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
^ Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.

External links

Gronya Somerville at BWFBadminton.com
Gronya Somerville at BWF.TournamentSoftware.com (alternate link)
Gronya Somerville at Olympedia
Gronya Somerville at Olympics.com
Gronya Somerville at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (archived)
Gronya Somerville on Instagram

[1] "Player Info: Gronya Somerville". BadmintonLink. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.

[2] "Players: Gronya Somerville". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 17 February 2017.

[women-3] Liu, Kiki, ed. (20 May 2015). "Gronya Somerville: Australian Following in Footsteps of Badminton Ace Lin Dan". Women of China. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016.

[4] Rogers, Andrew (10 April 2016). "East Brunswick badminton player Gronya Somerville chasing her Olympic dream". Moreland Leader. Retrieved 25 March 2017 – via Herald Sun.

[5] Levy, Megan (5 May 2016). "'Next badminton icon': Australia's Gronya Somerville to take on world's best". The North West Star. Retrieved 25 March 2017.

[6] "Gronya Somerville: Courting success in sport and in life". Australia Plus. Retrieved 25 March 2017.

[7] "Commonwealth Games Team Announced". Badminton Australia. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2017.

[8] "Canada Open 2016 Finals – 1 takes 3rd, 3 take 1st". Badzine. Retrieved 25 March 2017.

[9] "Mapasa and Somerville Win Second GP Title at Dutch Open". Badminton Australia. Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.

[10] "New Zealand, Australia Dominate Finals". Badminton Oceania. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2017.

[11] "Somerville Gronya". Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.

[12] Alleyne, Gayle (19 March 2017). "BWF Launches New Events Structure". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.

[13] Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.

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