Richard Vaughan (badminton)

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 chaired the High-Performance Commission, which has oversaw the development of a World Training Centre in Denmark.

Between 2015 - 2020 Vaughan was the CEO of Squash Australia, where he oversaw the sport’s rebranding and Australia’s success 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

Commonwealth Games
Men's singles

European Championships
Men's singles

European Junior Championships
Boys' singles

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

Men's singles

BWF International Challenge/Series
Men's singles

Mixed doubles
 * 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.