Gronya Somerville, poster girl for badminton

Gronya Somerville cheers after winning the game. [Photo/IC]

Since Somerville caught attention at the 2012 Thomas and Uber Cup, she has got more popular and even landed a role in a Chinese TV drama.

"It was Hongloumeng," she said, referring to "A Dream of Red Mansions", one of Chinese four classics.

An Australian official believed Gronya would have a good and long badminton career.

"She is very good and in doubles. We started her from a very young girl and developed her through to get into the Australian team. And we expect she will be in that Sudirman cup team (in 2017) and also in Commonwealth Games the year after, and also Olympics. She got that potential," said Geraldine Brown, Chairman of Australia Badminton Association.

Geraldine also noticed the popularity of the player in China.

"I was told he (Kang) was her grand-grand father. I only found that when she came in the team in Uber Cup two years ago. Somebody found her out and she became very popular in China and she was always popular in Australia but we didn't know that since 2012."

Although the Australian badminton now is on the third level at the world stage, Gronya has a big target for her beloved sport.

"Hopefully, I can get into the 2016 Olympics in Rio. And after that, my main goal is to reach the top 10," she said.