Monash student shoots for success
Sarah Graham
Monash University student Sarah Graham will be shooting for gold when she travels to China in August for the World University Games.
Sarah, who is currently studying a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Criminal Justice, has recently been selected to be a part of the women’s basketball team that will compete at the games, known as the Universiade, to be held in Shenzen later this year.
This isn’t the first time the 21 year old has represented Australia on the international stage; she also competed at the last Universiade in 2009, bringing home a bronze medal.
The Australians are looking to build on their success at the last games but the going won’t be easy with the team already being grouped with top nations such as the Czech Republic, Canada and Japan.
This year the Universiade will see over 8000 athletes from around the world vying for gold across 24 sports. Australia will field 230 athletes at the biennial international event, to be held from 11 - 23 August.
The magnitude of the games on the international sporting scene has lead to the university basketball program becoming a springboard to the Australian national squad, the Opals.
Australian University Sport high performance manager Siobhan James said it was great that Basketball Australia was supporting players who were choosing to combine sport with a higher education.
“The Summer Universiade is a highly competitive event that offers our students excellent experience on the world stage, and many of our competitors have gone on to become champions in their chosen sport,” she said.
Sarah balances the demands of study and high-level sports training with assistance of the Elite Athlete Support Program, administered by Monash Sport.