Three junior players from the Junior Badminton Bermuda National team are competing in Ottawa, Canada on the 3rd and 4th January 2026.
This is the 2nd overseas tournament for the Junior National Badminton Team this season having previously competed in Markham, Toronto in October 2025. The team is coached by Emma Moran-Lee and Aaron Simmons, who are the adult ladies and mens #1 singles players in Bermuda and both represent Bermuda overseas in the UK, USA and at the Small Island Games.
JitHom Liew, 13, Somersfield Academy, has been playing badminton for about 2 years. What attracted Liew to the sport was its speed and intensity, as it’s the fastest racquet sport.
Liew has been training consistently for the Ontario Junior C Tournament in Carleton, he has also been doing plyometric exercises to work on his explosiveness and running to improve his stamina. Liew also increased the number of training sessions to better prepare himself for the tournament.
Liew said, “At the tournament, I am hoping to achieve a podium finish in the singles tournament. This will be my second experience competing overseas. A few months ago, I competed in a Junior C tournament in Toronto, Ontario. In that tournament, I was knocked into the consolation round by the player who won Bronze, and I managed to reach the quarter finals there. This was quite a big achievement for me, as there were almost 200 players in my age group.
Traveling as a team is very beneficial because it provides a lot of support, as having teammates around and supporting you helps with motivation and confidence a lot, which is very useful in matches. It also helps with team chemistry and makes the overall experience better and more enjoyable.
I am excited for the opportunity to compete in the Victor Ontario Junior C tournament and am hoping to gain more experience and continue my badminton journey.”
Aaron Lee, 16 years old, Somersfield Academy, has been playing badminton for four years, following in the footsteps of his mum who is a national team badminton player, Bermuda ladies #1 and she got him into the sport. Lee played at school in classes and afterschool, then joined the National Junior Badminton coaching sessions.
Lee said, “We have been training early mornings and evenings in preparation for the tournament and we have been getting challenging game play vs the adult national team players.
At the tournament I am looking forward to playing games against new opponents, the standard is high in Canada so I am hoping to win some matches and progress as far as possible in the tournament. I am playing all disciplines, singles, boys doubles with Joseph Lau and mixed doubles with Sawara Pawar from Canada.
This will be my 2nd experience of competing overseas, the first was in Markham, Ontario, Canada in October 2025. I reached the semi finals of the consolation tournament with Joseph Lau and quarter finals of the singles tournament.
Travelling as a team is really important as badminton is more of an individual sport. In the October tournament in Markham we shared a big house which created a cohesive team as we supported each other on and off the court.”
Joseph Lau, 16, Warwick Academy, will be competing in the U19 boys singles and doubles.
Coach- Emma Moran-Lee said, “We are looking forward to taking the players to compete in the U15 and U19 badminton tournaments. It will be a great opportunity for the boys to experience more challenging game play as they are at the top of their game here in Bermuda.
We have increased the frequency of their training prior to the tournament to get them game ready, playing against the adult national team players has been really useful to up their level of performance. I can’t wait to see the boys in action on the courts."
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