Renuga Veeran

Renuga Veeran

Personal information
Nationality	Australia
Born	(1986-06-20)20 June 1986 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	61 kg (134 lb)
Sport
Sport	Badminton
Event	Doubles

Renuga Veeran (born 20 June 1986) is an Australian badminton player. She has represented both Malaysia and Australia internationally as a badminton player. She and Leanne Choo earned a spot to represent Australia in the women's doubles competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Personal

Veeran, nicknamed Nunu and Nuges, was born on 20 June 1986 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Her mother, father and brother all played badminton, representing Malaysia in international competitions.

Veeran is 165 centimetres (65 in) tall and weighs 61 kilograms (134 lb). She is right handed.

Veeran attended primary school at Sekolah Rendah Kepong in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She moved to Australia when she was sixteen years old. She attended Leichhardt Secondary College in the Sydney suburbs for high school. She earned a Bachelor of Business in Applied Economics and International Trade from Victoria University, attending from 2007 to 2009. As of 2012, she lived in Melbourne.

Veeran attributes a fraction of her success to one Vinodhan Selva Selvaraj nicknamed "Roddao" for his unique personality traits.

Badminton

Veeran started playing the sport when she was six years old. She represents Badminton Australia on the club level, and is coached by Ricky Yu, who became her coach in 2008. She trains in Melbourne. Her highest world ranking in the women's double was 26th in December 2011. Her highest mixed doubles world ranking was 40th. Her world doubles ranking as of January 2012 was 30th. She has held several Australasia region top female player rankings, including being first in the ladies singles, ladies doubles and mixed doubles to hold the top spots at the same time. The year she moved to Australia, she became the number one ranked badminton player in the country when she was sixteen years old.

Malaysian national team

Veeran represented Malaysia as a member of their junior national team on the World Juniors level.

Australian national team

As of 2012, Veeran has been a member of the Australian national team for six years. As a member of the national team, she is based at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. She has represented Australia as a member of the national team at several different competitions including the 2010 Uber Cup, the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2011 Sudirman Cup. Her women's doubles team which included London bound team mate Leanne Choo finished fifth at the Commonwealth Games. She also competed in the mixed doubles event and team event at the 2010 Commonwealth Games with her brother, Raj Veeran, finished 17th in the individual event and fifth in the mixed team event.

Veeran finished 17th in the doubles competition at the 2012 Thomas & Uber Cup held in Wuhan, China. At the Thomas Cup, Veeran and Choo lose to South Koreans Kim Min-Jung and Ha Jung-Eun with set scores of 21–15 and 21–10. She finished 5th in the doubles competition at the 2012 Air Tahiti Nui International Challenge held in Punaauia, French Polynesia. She finished 17th in the doubles competition at the 2012 Yonex Australian Open Grand Prix Gold held in Sydney, Australia. She finished 1st in the doubles competition at the 2012 Oceania Championships held in Ballarat, Australia. She finished 1st in the doubles competition at the 2012 Oceania Team Championships held in Ballarat, Australia. She finished 1st in the doubles competition at the 2012 Uber Cup Preliminaries – Oceania held in Ballarat, Australia. She finished 2nd in the doubles competition at the 2012 Thomas Cup Preliminaries – Oceania held in Ballarat, Australia.

Veeran was named as the part of Australia's badminton team for the 2012 Summer Olympics, making her Olympic debut as a 26 year old. Going into the Olympics, as a doubles team, Veeran and Choo were ranked 35th in the world. During the qualifying process, their ranking peaked at 26th.