SA badminton player Verdet Kessler dreams of Commonwealth Games after claiming No. 1 ranking

VERDET Kessler is the daughter of a Bermudian ballet dancer who has become Australia’s top female badminton player and a Commonwealth Games chance.

Kurralta Park’s Verdet Kessler is Australia’s No. 1 women’s singles badminton player. Pic

SHE IS the daughter of a Bermudian ballet dancer and German handballer who has become Australia’s top female badminton player.

Verdet Kessler, of Kurralta Park, is a strong chance to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow after winning her first national singles title in Geraldton, WA, in August which gave her the Australian No. 1 ranking.

Kessler, 20, says hard work and her family’s sporting background have been important to her success.

“I think good genetics helps,” says Kessler, who played at the weekend’s SA Open.

“My mum Verniece was a famous dancer ... and my dad Detlef was a European handball goalie.

“When my mum was younger, she was also a sprinter and her and another girl were the top juniors in Bermuda.”

Kessler took up badminton as a seven-year-old after trying it at a holiday clinic.

She started training once a week as a 12-year-old and made her first junior state team a year later.

The Glenelg Badminton Club player’s rise was halted in 2011 after tearing both her patella tendons which sidelined her for eight months.

But she bounced back the following year to make her first senior national squad.

Kessler, ranked 171 in the world, has since moved to Melbourne in preparation for the Commonwealth Games.

The squad will be announced later this month.

“It’d be an amazing experience to represent my country and the sport that I love.

“The hard work I’ve put into it would’ve finally paid off.”