Judith Meulendijks (born 26 September 1978,

Helmond Helmond (; called ''Hèllemond'' in the local dialect) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of ...

) is a former

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

player from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Career

Meulendijks started playing badminton at the BC Phoenix in her hometown and then she went to BC Geldrop. In her junior career, she won 1994 Dutch junior championships in the girls' doubles partnered with Antoinette Achterberg, and in 1995 in the mixed doubles with

Dicky Palyama Dicky Palyama (born March 26, 1978, in Gouda, South Holland, Gouda) is a male badminton player from the Netherlands. Early career After winning four junior titles in the Netherlands between 1994 and 1996, Dicky took the European junior U19 title ...

. In 1996, she elected to join the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

, and in the same year, she won the national women's singles title. In 2007, she won the gold medal at the European Junior Championships in the girls' singles event, and also became the first of world-class junior players to make a mark on the International Badminton Federation tournament circuit when she took the women's singles title at the Dutch Open. In 2000, she competed at the Sydney Olympics in women's singles and was beaten in round 32 by Ye Zhaoying, of China, 11-3, 9-11, 11-7. Meulendijks was a part of the Dutch team who won the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

bronze and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

silver at the

Uber Cup The Uber Cup, sometimes called the World Women's Team Championships, is a major international badminton competition contested by women's national badminton teams. First held in 1956–1957 and contested at three year intervals, it has been contes ...

. She won the Dutch National Badminton Championships three times in the Women's singles category (1996, 2008 & 2012) and the Women's doubles two times (2006 & 2007) with Brenda Beenhakker. She ended her international singles career in style reaching the finals at her home Dutch Open event in 2012 where she lost to Czech player

Kristina Gavnholt Kristina is a feminine given name and a variant of Christina. Notable people and characters with the name include: People *the Swedish name of Christina of Sweden * Kristina (born 1987), Slovak singer * Kristina Adolphson (born 1937), Swedish actr ...

. She played for many clubs in the Netherlands (BC Phoenix, BC Geldrop, Pellikaan Tilburg, BC Nuenen, BCO Bali & BC Duinwijck), Germany (FC Langenfeld & Bayer Uerdingen with which she won the German Bundesliga title in 2002 & 2003) and Denmark (Team Aarhus & Vendsyssel). She now is a badminton coach in Switzerland.

Major achievements

References

External links

BWF Player ProfileHome page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meulendijks, Judith 1978 births Living people Indo people Sportspeople from Helmond Dutch people of Indonesian descent Sportspeople of Indonesian descent Dutch female badminton players Olympic badminton players for the Netherlands Badminton players at the 2000 Summer Olympics 20th-century Dutch sportswomen