Gronya Somerville

Gronya Somerville (born 10 May 1995) is an Australian professional badminton player specializing in doubles.[2] She won eight Oceania Championships title, six in the women's doubles and two times in the mixed doubles.

Somerville partnered with Riky Widianto in Australian Embassy Jakarta in 2016

Gronya Somerville
Personal information
Birth name	Gronya Somerville
Country	Australia
Born	10 May 1995 Carlton, Melbourne, Australia
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Weight	62 kg (137 lb)
Handedness	Right
Women's & mixed doubles
Highest ranking	18 (WD 2 Mar 2017) 55 (XD 1 September 2016)
Current ranking	26 (WD), 55 (XD) (18 February 2020)
Medal record Women's badminton Representing  Australia Oceania Championships 2014 Ballarat Women's doubles 2015 North Harbour Women's doubles 2017 Nouméa Women's doubles 2018 Hamilton Women's doubles 2019 Melbourne Women's doubles 2019 Melbourne Mixed doubles 2020 Ballarat Women's doubles 2020 Ballarat Mixed doubles 2016 Papeete Women's doubles 2017 Nouméa Mixed doubles 2012 Ballarat Mixed doubles 2014 Ballarat Mixed doubles 2015 North Harbour Mixed doubles Oceania Mixed Team Championships 2012 Ballarat Mixed team 2014 Ballarat Mixed team 2016 Auckland Mixed team 2019 Melbourne Mixed team Oceania Women's Team Championships 2012 Ballarat Women's team 2016 Auckland Women's team 2018 Hamilton Women's team 2020 Ballarat Women's team
BWF profile

Personal life

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

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 Matthew Chau 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]

Achievements

Oceania Championships

Women's doubles

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

Mixed doubles

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

BWF World Tour (1 title)

The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[11] is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.[12]

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 has two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007.

Women's doubles

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

  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

  BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (7 titles, 9 runners-up)

Women's doubles

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

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2019	Waikato International	Simon Leung	Hiroki Midorikawa Natsu Saito	15–21, 13–21	Runner-up
2015	Turkey International	Matthew Chau	Robert Mateusiak Nadiezda Zieba	12–21, 13–21	Runner-up
2015	Waikato International	Matthew Chau	Sawan Serasinghe Setyana Mapasa	13–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2013	Auckland International	Raymond Tam	Ross Smith Renuga Veeran	16–21, 12–21	Runner-up

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series tournament

  BWF Future Series tournament

References

1. "Player Info: Gronya Somerville". www.badmintonlink.com. BadmintonLink.info. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
2. "Players: Gronya Somerville". bwfbadminton.com. Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
3. "Gronya Somerville: Australian Following in Footsteps of Badminton Ace Lin Dan". www.womenofchina.cn. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
4. "East Brunswick badminton player Gronya Somerville chasing her Olympic dream". www.heraldsun.com.au. Herald Sun. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
5. "'Next badminton icon': Australia's Gronya Somerville to take on world's best". www.northweststar.com.au. The North West Star. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
6. "Gronya Somerville: Courting success in sport and in life". www.australiaplus.com. Australia Plus. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
7. "Commonwealth Games Team Announced". www.badminton.org.au. Badminton Australia. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
8. "Canada Open 2016 Finals – 1 takes 3rd, 3 take 1st". www.badzine.net. Badzine.net. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
9. "Mapasa and Somerville Win Second GP Title at Dutch Open". www.badminton.org.au. Badminton Australia. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
10. "New Zealand, Australia Dominate Finals". websites.sportstg.com. Badminton Oceania. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
11. "BWF Launches New Events Structure". Badminton World Federation. 29 November 2017.
12. "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. 15 January 2018.

External links

• Gronya Somerville at BWF.tournamentsoftware.com
• Gronya Somerville at gc2018.com
• Gronya Somerville on Instagram