Sydney Tjonadi is defying her young age to take the badminton world by storm

Rising badminton star Sydney Tjonadi is fearless in the face of her older competitors

Sydney has earned multiple state titles throughout her two-year career.

• Training hard to pool ahead
• Young Koalas in good form

Age is just a number when it comes to Sydney Tjonadi.

The 10 year-old from Eastwood already has multiple state badminton titles to her name, including the prestigious 2017 Aeroplane NSW Junior Summer GP tournament.

She is also one of the youngest female players to ever qualify for the NSW U13 state team, first accomplishing the feat when she was only 9.

The crazy part? She’s only been playing the sport for two years.

“Other parents used to come up to me and say ‘wow, you’re really good’,” Sydney said.

“I was really surprised and really happy when I found out I made the state team.

“I’ve gotten used to playing players a lot older than me.”

The 10 year-old is aiming to make this year’s U15 state team.

Not content with playing against people up to three years older than her, Sydney is currently training three to four times a week in the hopes of making the NSW U15 side for this year’s Australian Championship.

Castle Hill RSL provides $15,000 in grants per year to Sydney’s badminton club, with the funds supporting players at competitions, international competition fees, equipment and uniforms, court hire and numerous other expenses.

Sydney has been nominated for NewsLocal’s Junior Sports Star Individual award.

The Local Sports Stars program is searching for outstanding athletes aged under 18, as well as those that love and contribute to making sport a great experience for everyone.

The program has five categories: Junior Sports Star Individual, Junior Sports Star Team, Young Sporting Spirit Individual, Young Sporting Spirit Team and Service to Sport.

To nominate someone you know go to localsportsstars.com.au