ABOUTME
Rachel Choong was born on 22nd January 1994 in Liverpool with a very rare condition of dwarfism called 3M Syndrome. She competes in Women's Singles, Women's Doubles and Mixed Doubles events in the Short Stature (SH6) classification within Para-Badminton.
Competing internationally since 2008, Rachel is currently ranked World number one and is England’s most highly decorated badminton player with 10 World Championship titles and 9 European Championship titles.
Rachel is passionate about increasing the profile and reach of Para-Badminton, Badminton, Paralympic and women’s sport. As an ambassador for organisations both here in the UK and Poland, she works to positively impact participation levels of girls and young women in sport, champions Para-Badminton and promotes racial equality and break down barriers. Read more about the work Rachel does as an Ambassador.
Rachel began playing badminton in 2000 when she was six years old when her older sister began receiving coaching at a local club. It was something encouraged by their parents who both play social badminton. During the weekly training sessions, Rachel quickly noticed that her disability greatly affected how she played badminton compared to her able-bodied peers. Through determination and the support of her family and coach, Rachel continued to play and train, striving to challenge her friends despite the expanding height difference. Rachel’s perseverance and commitment showed when she began regularly competing in the local junior league, and after being scouted there, she was invited to attend weekly and monthly county training sessions and went on to represent her county of Lancashire on several occasions.
“I truly believe that playing against able-bodied people in those early stages of my career has helped develop me into the badminton player I am today. Trying to keep up with my friends was a big motivator for me to become stronger, quicker and constantly improve.”
During a country training weekend in early 2007, a coach approached her having heard of the 4 Nations Para-Badminton Championships. He explained that the short stature classification would be included, and for the first time, Rachel could compete against other people with dwarfism. In August of that year, Rachel made her para-badminton debut at her first 4 Nations Para-Badminton Championships in Cardiff, Wales. Just nine months later, Rachel made her international debut at the European Para-Badminton Championships in Dortmund, Germany.
Following that, Rachel’s badminton career has skyrocketed. She has travelled around the world, regularly competing on the international circuit and picking up plenty of titles on her way. Most notably at several BWF Para-Badminton World Championships. Rachel made her World Championship debut in 2013 again in Dortmund. A successful tournament for her as she came home with two golds in the Women’s Singles and Mixed Double’s events. Incredibly, Rachel was to improve on this result during the BWF Para-Badminton World Championships 2015 in Stoke Mandeville, England. Here, Rachel became the first English shuttler, able or para, to win three titles at a single World Championships.
“My most memorable tournament was without a doubt the 2015 World Championships in Stoke Mandeville. Although it was my second World Championships, it was the first where I’d won all three titles and created some history. And it was particularly special playing on home soil, surrounded by my family and friends.”
Rachel continued to make history and while at the BWF Para-Badminton World Championships 2017, she became the first-ever player to defend all three of her World titles. Most recently, Rachel competed in the 2019 edition of the tournament and was able to defend her Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles titles. Read more about Rachel’s Achievements.
Despite her success, Rachel’s badminton career has been (and still is) almost completely self-funded. For most of her athlete career, Rachel has had to balance working a full-time job, while finding time for training and using her annual leave on travelling to tournaments. Although Para-Badminton is now a Paralympic sport and will be making its Paralympic debut at Tokyo 2021, Rachel’s events unfortunately have not been included in this Paralympic Games which means that she has been unable to go onto the GB Paralympic Programme and turn professional. Not only that, but it also meant that during the Coronavirus Pandemic and lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, Rachel was not considered as “elite” and therefore was unable to train. Rachel remains optimistic that at least one of her events could be included in the Paris 2024 Paralympic programme – a decision that will be made by early 2022.
Rachel is born of Chinese-Malaysian background. While she and both of her parents were born in Liverpool, three of her four grandparents were immigrants. Her paternal grandfather was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia but moved to Singapore at a young age. During his twenties, he came over to Liverpool as a merchant seaman. Rachels maternal grandfather was from Hong Kong and her maternal grandmother is from Guangzhou, China, who came to Liverpool and were very successful business owners. Rachel identifies strongly with her Chinese heritage, having spent many hours of her childhood in her grandparents’ Chinese & Asian Supermarket, and working there as a young adult. Rachel can speak very basic Cantonese and enjoys participating in Chinese traditions, and Western traditions also.
Rachel is the only person in her family to have short stature – her parents and older sister are all of average height, as are her extended family. During Rachel’s childhood, she regularly visited the genetics team at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital who worked tirelessly to find a condition that matched Rachel’s short stature characteristics but to no avail. In 2017, Rachel’s geneticist submitted her DNA to the 100,000 Genomes Project — a UK Government research project looking into rare diseases – hoping the recent advancements in technology would help diagnose her. Three years later, just before her 26th birthday, Rachel was diagnosed with 3M Syndrome – an extremely rare genetic disorder characterised by short stature (dwarfism) and/or other skeletal malformations.
“It’s a great feeling having finally been given a diagnosis after wondering all of my life so far. It had got to a point where it’s something that I never thought would happen. Although I know that this diagnosis doesn't define me, it's still nice to know what makes me, me!”