Richard Vaughan (born 16 April 1978) is a Welsh/British

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

Llanbradach Llanbradach is a village in the county borough of Caerphilly, South Wales. It lies within the historic boundaries of Glamorgan, less than north of the town of Caerphilly. It is part of the community of Llanbradach and Pwll-y-Pant. It is mostl ...

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; , ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley and separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly Mountain. It is north of Cardiff an ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, now residing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vaughan was an Olympic badminton player competing for Team GB at the Sydney 2000, and Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Vaughan worked as a Director in IT/Digital sector before becoming the Chief Executive (CEO) of Badminton Ireland between 2011 - 2015. From 2015 to 2021 he was the CEO for Squash Australia, and then since 2023 the Vice-President, and then Chief Operating Officer for the Badminton World Federation (BWF). In 2014 Vaughan joined the board of Badminton Europe (a member of the Badminton World Federation). He chaired the High-Performance Commission, which has oversaw the development of a European Training Centre in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. Between 2015 - 2020 Vaughan was the CEO of Squash Australia, where he oversaw the sport’s rebranding and Australia’s success at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. A new National Training Centre was opened on the Gold Coast in late 2018. In 2019, Vaughan established the 'Friends of Squash’ Parliament competition with the current Sports Minister Anika Wells and Prime Minister

Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been the Leaders of the Australian Labor Party#Leader, leader of the Labor Party si ...

. In late 2020 Vaughan joined the board at Equestrian Australia as a Non-Executive Director, Chairing the Finance Committee.

Education

Vaughan holds an MBA from Leicester University and an MA in Sports Development from Bath University, having previously achieved a BSc(Hons) in economics and politics. He is currently completing a Ph.D. study at the University of Canberra via a Sports Integrity Australia scholarship. He has a long interest in athletes’ impact on the integrity of sport, demonstrated by his stance on Darfur in the build-up to Beijing 2008.

Career

Richard Vaughan won a bronze medal at the

2000 European Badminton Championships The 17th European Badminton Championships were held in Glasgow, Scotland, between 25 and 29 April 2000, and hosted by the European Badminton Union and the Scottish Badminton Union. Venue This tournament was held at the Kelvin Hall Internationa ...

, losing to Peter Gade (Denmark) in the semi-final. He also won a bronze medal at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

, beating world No3 Susilo (Singapore) and Gupta (India) on the way to the semi-final, where he lost to Lee (Malaysia). His highest world ranking was number 7 (2002). He beat the World No1 Roslin Hashim (Malaysia) at the Danish Open 2001 and Swiss Open 2002. In 2004 Vaughan beat the World Champion Xia Xuanze (China) at the All England Super Series. He has 97 caps representing Wales (March 2009). In 2005 he established the Richard Vaughan Badminton Academy (see below), based in the UK, helping establish many British and European players. Vaughan has competed twice in

badminton at the Summer Olympics Badminton had its debut as an official event on the 1992 Summer Olympics and has been contested in eight Olympiads. 74 different nations have appeared in the Olympic badminton competitions, with 17 appearing all nine times. It is governed by the ...

. Vaughan played

badminton at the 2000 Summer Olympics Badminton at the 2000 Summer Olympics was held at the Pavilion 3, Sydney Olympic Park from 17 – 23 September. Both men and women competed in their own singles and doubles events and together they competed in a mixed doubles event. Medalists ...

in men's singles, beating world No5

Boonsak Ponsana Boonsak Ponsana (; ; born 22 February 1982) is a Thai badminton player. His younger sister Salakjit Ponsana is also part of the Thailand badminton team. He got a Bachelor of Laws from Sripatum University. Career Ponsana competed at the Badmin ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

in the first round and Swedish No1 Rasmus Wengberg of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in the 2nd round, before losing to World No1 and World Champion Sun Jun of China, 13–15 13–15. He also competed at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

despite contracting a virus similar to glandular fever, which seriously impaired his preparation for the Athens Olympics. In men's singles, he defeated

Marco Vasconcelos Marco Paulo Pereira Vasconcelos (born 7 November 1971) is a male badminton player from Portugal. Vasconcelos played a big role in helping the Portuguese team to win bronze at the Helvetia Cup in 2005. In his home country he won 15 titles at the ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in the first round. In the round of 16, Vaughan was defeated by

Shon Seung-Mo Shon Seung-mo (; born 1 July 1980 in Milyang, South Gyeongsang Province) is a badminton player from South Korea. In 2004, he won the silver medal at the Athens Summer Olympics. Career Olympic Games He competed at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Ol ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, the eventual silver medalist.

Best Grand Prix results

*Last 16 All England 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007 *1/4 Final Danish Grand Prix 2001 *1/4 Final Swiss Grand Prix 2002 *1/4 Final German Grand Prix 2002 *Semi Final Dutch Grand Prix 2000 *Semi Final US Grand Prix 2007 *Final Polish Grand Prix 2000 *Final Polish Grand Prix 2001

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

''Men's singles''

European Championships

''Men's singles''

European Junior Championships

''Boys' singles''

World Grand Prix

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) since 1983. ''Men's singles''

BWF International Challenge/Series

''Men's singles'' ''Mixed doubles'' :

BWF International Challenge The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF International Series The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament

Richard Vaughan Badminton Academy

The Richard Vaughan Badminton Academy is a group of young Welsh badminton players. It is a prominent school for badminton in Wales, and specifically badminton in Cardiff. The founder and head coach is Richard Vaughan, a two time Olympian, who is based in Cardiff, Wales. Richard is supported by Donal O Halloran, Piret Vaughan, and Liam Ingram. Leon Vaughan provides injury prevention programmes in addition to the treatment of injuries.

Notable Alumni

* Sarah Thomas, winner of the Welsh Senior Nationals * Tim Stranks, winner of the British u17 Championships in January 2009.

Partnerships

In June 2006 it announced a 5-year partnership with Finsbury Food Group with the aim of providing the funds to secure coach resources and fund tournament participation in the buildup to the London 2012 Olympics. Other local business supporters includes FD Systems and Accounting Software Direct.

References

External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, Richard 1978 births Living people Welsh male badminton players Badminton players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players for Great Britain Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Wales People educated at Lewis School, Pengam Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in badminton Badminton players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Badminton players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Badminton players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games