Eastern Gauteng Badminton Association (EGBA) players Deidre Jordaan and Jarred Elliot will form part of the 251 South African athletes to represent the country at the Commonwealth Games in England from July 28 to August 5.

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The duo is part of five players selected by Badminton South Africa (BSA) to contest against 15 other nations for a Commonwealth gold.

Jordaan and Elliot are part of a team that also includes Johanita Scholtz, Robert Summers and Caden Kakora with Stewart Carson as their coach.

Speaking to the City Times, Jordaan expressed her excitement for another opportunity to represent her country.

“I am thrilled. It is such a big honour to form part of the team going to the Commonwealth Games.

You train so hard – almost every day of the year – to achieve your goals and it is rewarding to be included in prestigious events such as this.

“It makes all the hard work, dedication and sacrifices worthwhile,” she said.

She added that the team has already started with preparations and they will be departing to England soon.

“The preparations are going well.

“We had a team training camp at the end of June at John Barrable Hall where we trained twice a day.

“We will be departing to Birmingham on the 18th to get some game time against European players at Nottingham University before we check into the athletes village.”

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Jordaan stated that although competition will be steep, with countries like India and Malaysia posing a big threat, they will give it their all in the doubles and mixed doubles.

“Badminton is very competitive at the Commonwealth Games and the standards are extremely high. We have a favourable team draw and will give it our best effort.

According to the latest BSA rankings, the association has selected a strong squad with all players ranked in the top 10 in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

Both Summers and Scholtz occupy the first spot in the men’s and women’s singles while Elliot ranks number one in the men’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Jordaan is ranked second in the women’s singles and mixed-doubles while she occupies third place in the doubles. Kakora is ranked second in the mixed doubles and also third in the doubles.

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On the continent, Summers is ranked ninth in the men’s singles and Scholtz is fourth and Jordaan sits seventh in the women’s category. In the doubles, the team of Elliot and Summers is ranked eighth.