Lyndon John Williams (born October 1964) is a former Welsh badminton player, coach, and currently involved in disability badminton.[3] He won the boys' doubles title at the European Junior Champions in 1983[4] and the men's doubles bronze medallist at the European Championships in 1988.[5]

Lyndon Williams
Personal information
Birth nameLyndon John Williams
BornOctober 1964
Cardiff, Wales[1]
ResidenceEdinburgh, Scotland[1]
HandednessRight[2]
Men's singles and doubles
Highest ranking11 (MD)
Medal record
Men's badminton
Representing  Wales
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1988 Kristiansand Men's doubles
European Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 1983 Helsinki Boys' doubles
BWF profile

Williams has collected fifteen Welsh National Championships title,[6] achieved 62 caps for Wales, competed at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, and reached a career high as world number 11.[1][3][7] He ended his career as badminton player due to back injury at the age of 24.[3]

Williams then worked for Badminton Wales for 18 years up until 2007 as national coach, performance manager and finally as executive director. He involvement in disability badminton started in the early 1990s, and became Vice-President of International Badminton Association for the Disabled (IBAD), before the successful integration into Badminton World Federation (BWF) in 2010. He is heavily involved with Para-Badminton as a member of the BWF Para-Badminton Commission and was chair of the 4 Nations Para-Badminton committee for a number of years.[1][3]

Career

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Moved to Scotland in 2007 where Williams co-founded the Lothian Disability Badminton Club in January 2008. He remained Chairperson of the club until 2016. He also returned to coaching, working with Edinburgh Councils Badminton Academy for 6 years, as well as working with a number of junior players (notably Junior National Champions Rachel Cameron and Rachel Andrews). During this time Williams was awarded Sport Scotlands Disability Coach of the year in 2012.

A back operation in 2013 curtailed his on-court work, however he was able to continue with a small number of players until he retired from coaching players in 2019.

On moving to Scotland Williams took up the role of Chairperson of the Badminton Scotland Disability Working group before handing over this position in 2022 after 8 years in post.

Williams has written a number of Disability coaching modules including Para-badminton Kicking up a racket for Badminton England, Module 13, Working with Disability Badminton players and most recently Module 19 Working with Performance Para badminton players for the BWF. He was also head coach at the first ever Badminton Europe Confederation (BEC) Para badminton Education Conference in Veenendaal, Netherlands in 2015. Williams subsequently lead the conference again on two further occasions 2016 and 2017. He also provide the lead role at the World Para-badminton Coaches conference in South Korea in November 2017.

Williams currently works for Disability Sport Wales as a consultant for the successful insport project, working with 16 National Governing Bodies of sport.

He is now heavily involved with researching the history of Badminton Wales as well as helping to establish the Welsh Ex-International players club in 2022 (The Red Cap Club or Clwb Cap Coch) as Badminton Wales head towards their 100th year celebration in 2028.

Achievement

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European Championships

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Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
1988 Badmintonsenteret, Kristiansand, Norway   Chris Rees   Michael Kjeldsen
  Jens Peter Nierhoff
8–15, 7–15   Bronze

European Junior Championships

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Men's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
1983 Helsinkian Sports Hall, Helsinki, Finland   Chris Rees   Claus Thomsen
  Karsten Schultz
15–12, 18–16   Gold

IBF World Grand Prix

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

Men's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
1987 Scottish Open   Chris Rees   Michael Kjeldsen
  Jens Peter Nierhoff
4–15, 4–15   Runner-up

IBF International

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Men's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
1986 Welsh Open   Chris Rees   Martin Dew
  Darren Hall
7–15, 12–15   Runner-up

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Kicking up a racket! Parabadminton activity programme" (PDF). www.orpingtonjuniors.com. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Players: Lyndon Williams". bwfbadminton.com. Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d "1st BEC Para-Badminton Education Course – Course Leader: Lyndon Williams (Scotland)". badmintoneurope.com. Badminton Europe. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  4. ^ "European Junior Championships, Individuals". badmintoneurope.com. Badminton Europe. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  5. ^ "European Championships, Individuals". badmintoneurope.com. Badminton Europe. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  6. ^ "Welsh National Championships". www.badminton.wales. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  7. ^ "L. Williams". thecgf.com. The Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
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