Tahiti’s Remi Rossi, who is bidding to become the first player outside of Australia or New Zealand to win a gold medal at the Oceania Championships, had a smooth start to his campaign today in Melbourne.
After spending the last two and a half years in France training to become a teacher and sparring alongside French national players, it did not take Rossi long to find his form. Rossi beat Australia’s Chauncey Yu 21-10 21-10 in the first round and then received a walkover against Jun Zong Kayson Goh.
The Oceania Championships 2022 opened with the men’s singles draw this afternoon, with a large draw of 65 players from four member countries (Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Tahiti) competing.
“I’m so happy to be here and enjoy it on the court,” said Rossi. “It’s always stressful for me as I travelled here from France and if you lose, it’s over. It was a hard game and I was behind at the beginning of both games, but I managed to find more confidence and the rest was ok.”
“I had to be focused on every point and once I could string three or four points together, I found more confidence. For me, it is important to remain confident whether you win or lose, you must go on to every match telling yourself that you can win it”, says Remi
Meanwhile, Fiji’s Jared Chung, one of two representatives from Fiji in this year’s edition, faced an uphill battle against the more experienced Ephraim Stephen Sam, who didn’t allow Chung to find his rhythm.
“It’s really good to get back into this level of badminton,” said Jared. “The players’ standard is above me and I need to be able to learn and take as much as I can from the experience. I was very slow in the first game and I had to psyche myself up to perform better in the second. I will take what I can from the match and know that I went out there and did my best.”
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