ALL Jamaica Senior triple champion Gareth Henry, who had a year-best world ranking of 118, is hoping that the local governing body will give him the backing he will need next season to stay on top of his game.

The 21-year-old says he is “training as diligently as possible entering the 2013 season and hopefully the Jamaica Badminton Association will allocate enough funds to send me to the tournaments I need in order to climb up the world rankings again”.

Henry is currently ranked at 171 in the world, which indicates a lack of competition in comparison with those players in the top 100.

He is planning to enter the Cuban International in the new year for an early and strong start, having learnt from his failed bid at qualifying for the Olympic Games in 2012.

“I had a decent start to the year, improving my ranking from 2011 and steadily climbing the world rankings.

“It was difficult to accept that I didn’t qualify for the Olympics when the results came in May, but I had accepted that it was my first shot at it,” he noted.

Admitting that he had entered the qualifying period “a bit late”, the University of Technology student said he didn’t put “too much pressure on himself”.

Henry played in 10 World Badminton Federation-sanctioned tournaments this year, scoring most points at the Giraldilla International in Cuba in March and the Thomas Cup Pan Am Preliminary in the US a month earlier.

He added more than 1,100 points in each of the competition and was knocked out in the semi-final in the Cuban tournament by Cuba’s number one Lisbel Gomez, who won 23-12, 21-8 in the 25-minute match-up.

During the year, Henry won seven of 16 singles matches and four of eight doubles matches (with Garron Palmer) in internationally recognised competitions.

“I had done really well in making a name for myself while on the circuit and as a result I was called up to play in the Tamil Nadu Badminton league in Chennai, India. It was my first time playing for an international club and in the end I helped my team Erode Eagles to the championship,” Henry pointed out.

“I achieved my highest ranking this year by reaching 118 in the world. Overall I feel I have improved and gained confidence due to the quality matches I have played,” Henry added.

Henry had tough matches in the year, the most memorable being against the number one in Pan America and number 25 in the world, Kevin Cordon of Guatemala at the Peru International last April.

In the 45-minute encounter, Cordon won 19-21, 21-16, 21-7, but Henry believed he “had too much respect for him because of the quality of players he has beaten to be top 25 in the world.

“Because of the lack of funds… I have not been able to get the quality training as I had when I was in Malaysia. As a result my standard has declined leading to the fall in my rankings, as I have not been able to reach the level I was once at,” he stressed.

Henry’s singles career over four years now stands 31 wins and 28 losses, while in doubles he has 13 wins and 12 losses.

His career-best singles ranking ever is 116 and he is hoping to climb into the top 100 in 2013 so long as he gets the financial support.