Birmingham 2022: Badminton quartet ready for biggest stage

Elena Johnson knows that very well indeed, given that Birmingham 2022 will be her sixth Commonwealth appearance.

As she prepares to contest the women’s doubles alongside Chloe Le Tissier, with Emily Trebert and Stuart Hardy completing a Guernsey quartet, the vastly experienced player admits it is always difficult to set an exact target.

Watch: Elena Johnson looks ahead to Birmingham 2022

‘It’s all entirely based on the draw,’ she said ahead of hearing on 27 July precisely who she will be facing.

‘If you come against India, Malaysia, England or Singapore in the first round, all we can do is try and keep on court as long as possible.

‘Equally, there are countries there that we can beat quite comfortably, so we’re kind of middle of the pile, I’d say.

‘It’s hoping that we get a good draw, and if we do get a good draw, last 16 would be the objective – if we can get anyone into the last 16, that’d be great.’

But, regardless of how Guernsey fare, the 36-year-old has set a rather impressive standard of longevity as a Commonwealths competitor.

She made her debut aged 16 at Manchester 2002 and has not missed a single edition since.

That makes her by far the most experienced head in the Birmingham 2022 badminton squad, where Hardy contests his third Games, Le Tissier her second.

Those two will team up in the mixed doubles.

And then there is Guernsey women’s champion Trebert, who will contest the singles as a debutante.

Emily’s younger brother, Jordan, competed at Gold Coast but misses out this year through a ruptured Achilles. That makes it a bittersweet occasion for the badminton-loving Treberts.

‘It’s really, really exciting for Emily,’ Johnson said.

‘In the last two or three years, she’s made massive improvements.

‘She and Jordan won gold at the last Island Games, so they really deserve to be going as a pair, so that’s a massive shame for her – but at least she gets to go to play singles.’

Reflecting on her own extensive career, Johnson marks Delhi 2010 as a definite high.

‘My biggest achievement in a Commonwealth Games was in Delhi, where I won my first round really comfortably and then I had the Welsh No. 1 [Carissa Turner] in the round of 32.

‘She was a full-time player – badminton was her career – and I was a teacher. I wasn’t favourite to win that and I knew there was a chance I could – and it was literally neck and neck the whole way.

‘It was something like 25-23 in the third, so that was a massive win.’

But she met her match against Malaysia’s Mew Choo Wong, the eventual silver-medallist, and missed out on the quarter-finals.

‘I was obviously never going to win, but being on court against her was very cool.’

Gold Coast 2018 shares that top tier, but for another reason.

It is so far Johnson’s favourite experience at a Commonwealths.

‘The village was amazing, we got to go out and see lots of other sports, and the team was really good fun.

‘We were in brand new houses with swimming pools outside, so that’s hard to live up to.’

Guernsey’s mixed doubles were up against it at Gold Coast – Le Tissier and Hardy drew India in the first round, while Johnson and Jordan Trebert faced Canada.

But Johnson and Le Tissier enjoyed slightly better fortunes in the women’s doubles.

‘Chloe and I did well in the doubles – we won pretty comfortably our first round against Ghana and then we went on to the round of 16 and we had England.

‘The first game was a massive step-up in pace and we really struggled, but we did pretty well in the second game.

‘If Chloe and I can do similar this time, we’d be chuffed with that.’

At least, this time around, Johnson will be on more familiar soil. It is the closest she will have to a home Commonwealth Games.

The Ladies’ College teacher spent several years studying at Birmingham University, towards the end of that spell witnessing work taking place to improve the accommodation.

‘The accommodation now should be really good.

‘It’s on a beautiful site, the Vale – it’s a really green area and the accommodation’s around a pond.’

But the adoption of a unique three-site athletes’ village means she and many others will be housed at Warwick University, which she is familiar with through county badminton and also gives her approval for.

‘It’s pretty nice surroundings ­– it should be good.

‘We’ve all got single, en suite rooms, which I can’t remember ever having.

‘I’ve always had shared rooms at Commonwealth Games, so that’s quite nice to have a single room with your own toilet.’

The badminton tournament will take place at the National Exhibition Centre, which will host five sports in total, notably including boxing – in which Billy Le Poullain will compete.

And Johnson is hoping for a few familiar faces in the crowd.

‘It’s nice at a home Games, because more people come and watch.

‘Obviously my family didn’t come out to Delhi or any of the Australian ones, but loads of my family are coming out to watch this time, which will be nice.’

The Commonwealths are a big stage for a Guernsey badminton player, but domestic development officer Paulo Pinheiro sees it as a beneficial experience. He hopes that the challenge will make the team stronger players come Island Games time.

‘For one thing, in terms of badminton, a lot of the countries that participate in the Commonwealths have a really, really big standard,’ he said.

‘A lot of really good players, they come from Asia, and we’ve had in the past several guys that were almost world champions.

‘We have medallists from the Olympic Games participating in the Commonwealths, so to be part of it, it’s really good.’

Ultimately, for him, it is about asking, ‘How are we in terms of our development?’

The Portuguese national does not see making finals as feasible nor realistic, but it would only take a couple match wins for him to deem it a successful Games.

‘In singles, it’s going to the final 32, in doubles going to the final 16, and trying to aim at that because then it will be easier in terms of having results for the Island Games.

‘Some of our players are very experienced – only Emily is a first-timer and all the other ones have previous experience.

‘They’ve all been training hard for it and preparing the best way for it, so we’ll see what happens.’