Richard Vaughan (badminton)

Richard Vaughan
Personal information
Country	Wales
Born	(1978-04-16) 16 April 1978 Caerphilly, Wales
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	82 kg (181 lb; 12.9 st)
Handedness	Right
Men's singles
Highest ranking	7 (2002)
Medal record Men's badminton Representing Wales Commonwealth Games 2002 Manchester Men's singles European Championships 2000 Glasgow Men's singles European Junior Championships 1997 Nymburk Boys' singles
BWF profile

Richard Vaughan (born 16 April 1978) is a Welsh and British badminton player from Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Wales. Vaughan was the Chief Executive of Badminton Ireland between 2011 - 2015.

In 2014 Vaughan joined the board of Badminton Europe (a member of the Badminton World Federation). He chairs the high-performance commission, which has overseen the development of a World Training Centre in Denmark.

Between 2015 - 2020 Vaughan was the CEO of Squash Australia, where he oversaw the sport rebranding, topping the medal table 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.

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, losing to Peter Gade (Denmark) in the semi-final. He also won a bronze medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, 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. Vaughan played badminton at the 2000 Summer Olympics in men's singles, beating world No5 Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand in the first round and Swedish No1 Rasmus Wengberg of Sweden 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 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 of Portugal in the first round. In the round of 16, Vaughan was defeated by Shon Seung-Mo of Korea, 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

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2002	Bolton Arena, Manchester, England	Lee Tsuen Seng		Bronze

European Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2000	Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland	Peter Gade	3–15, 4–15	Bronze

European Junior Championships

Boys' singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1997	Nymburk, Czech Republic	Dicky Palyama	15–11, 11–15, 15–18	Silver

World Grand Prix

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) since 1983.

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2000	Polish Open	Vladislav Druzchenko	12–15, 12–15	Runner-up
1999	Polish Open	Rio Suryana	9–15, 15–6, 12–15	Runner-up

BWF International Challenge/Series

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2006	Canadian International			Runner-up
2006	Waikato International	John Moody	21–11, 16–21, 20–22	Runner-up
2006	Victorian International	Nikhil Kanetkar	22–20, 21–13	Winner
2006	Estonian International			Runner-up
2006	Mauritius International	Klaus Raffeiner	21–11, 21–18	Winner
2006	Kenya International	Edwin Ekiring	21–16, 21–17	Winner
2006	South Africa International			Winner
2003	Peru International	Tjitte Weistra	15–4, 15–8	Winner
2003	Giraldilla International	Sho Sasaki	15–11, 6–15, 12–15	Runner-up
2003	Guatemala International	Hidetaka Yamada	11–15, 15–10, 15–8	Winner
2002	South Africa International	Stewart Carson	7–1, 7–0, 7–0	Winner
2002	Spanish International	Dicky Palyama	4–7, 1–7, 7–5	Runner-up
2001	Bulgarian International	Andrew South	7–2, 5–7, 7–2	Winner
2000	Cuba International	Jyri Aalto	15–8, 15–6	Winner
2000	Canadian International	Jyri Aalto	12–15, 15–7, 9–15	Runner-up
2000	Welsh International	Andrew South	1–7, 7–2, 7–5	Winner
2000	Dutch International	Vladislav Druzchenko	15–10, 6–15, 11–15	Runner-up
2000	Croatian International	Jyri Aalto	15–10, 15–13	Winner
1999	Welsh International	Rasmus Wengberg	17–16, 17–14	Winner
1999	Le Volant d'Or de Toulouse	Pullela Gopichand	13–15, 15–14, 6–15	Runner-up
1999	Slovenian International	Kasper Ødum	15–4, 11–15, 15–9	Winner
1999	Chile International	Bobby Milroy	15–9, 15–5	Winner
1999	Peru International	Ardy Wiranata	15–7, 2–15, 9–15	Runner-up
1998	Argentina International			Winner
1998	Brazil International	Jim Ronny Andersen	15–6, 15–8	Winner
1998	Spanish International	Gerben Bruijstens	15–5, 15–1	Winner

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2009	Cyprus International	Sarah Thomas	Henry Tam Donna Haliday	18–21, 14–21	Runner-up
2009	Banuinvest International	Sarah Thomas	Valeriy Atrashchenkov Elena Prus	19–21, 12–21	Runner-up

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series 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, Liam Ingram and Alistair Casey. Dr. Leon Vaughan provides injury prevention programs 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.

External links

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 22 February 2010)
• Richard Vaughan at BWF.tournamentsoftware.com
• Richard Vaughan at BWFbadminton.com
• Richard Vaughan at Olympedia
• Richard Vaughan at Olympics.com
• Richard Vaughan at Team GB
• Richard Vaughan at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)
• Richard Vaughan at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games (archived)