Sport: fun and games, or something more?

Australia's Gronya Somerville hits a shot next to Simon Wing Hang Leung in their mixed doubles badminton match during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Olympian Gronya Somerville believes badminton isn’t culturally regarded in Australia as an intense, competitive sport. Source: Getty

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From PE classes to professional sport in Australia, sport isn’t something Chinese-Australians are typically well-represented in. On this episode of Chinese-ish, Mark and Wing contrast their experiences with Gronya Somerville, Olympian badminton player and eight-time Oceania champion.

It's probably fair to say that sport isn't a cornerstone of Chinese-Australian culture.

Although many Chinese-Australian children are sent to Chinese school and music lessons every week, it seems relatively few are sent to sports training.

This could be understandable given the different cultural perspectives on sport held by Chinese and Australian communities, and the different sports that are popular.

In this episode of Chinese-ish

What are the gaps between Chinese sports culture and Australian sports culture?
Why are sports like badminton huge in China but relatively niche in Australia?
Where do race and culture fit into the Australian sports landscape?

Speaking about her sport of badminton, Chinese-Australian Olympian Gronya Somerville says, "In Australia, badminton is [dominated by] Chinese-Australians or Indonesian and Malaysian players.

"I think that's definitely through their parents, who grew up playing it and then wanted their kids to play it too. That tradition [might be] why it hasn't become mainstream in Australian culture, because parents haven't played it and their kids have gone into tennis or swimming."

This is reflected in - and perhaps perpetuated by - the funding system for sports in Australia.

In 2016–7, badminton received $635,000 in funding from the Australian Sports Commission, compared to over

$11 million

for swimming.

Somerville says, “ A lot of the issues around the funding, the resources, [might stem from] awareness within the Australian community. I always find that a lot of Australians’ perception of badminton is that it's a slow backyard game…because they haven't been exposed to this super high-intensity sport, and they haven't seen the highest level.”

In this sense, Chinese-Australian athletes like Somerville play an important role in bringing popular sports from non-Western cultures to Australia.

Gronya Somerville at the Canada Open 2019

Chinese-Australians aren’t well represented in many mainstream Australian sports, but have found success in sports more popular in China such as badminton. Source: Yves Lacroix

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