The Guyana Badminton Association (GBA) Friday launched its Air Badminton initiative at the University of Guyana (UG) Turkeyen Campus.
According to a press release from the association, national champions, Narayan and Priyanna Ramdhani conducted the programme which introduced the game to the UG staff and students which included Vice-Chancellor Professor Paloma Mohamed-Martin, Dr. Anna Perreira, Head of the UG Campus of Berbice, along with the members of the Biology, Robotics and UG student society clubs.
GBA President, Gokarn Ramdhani made a presentation of shuttlecocks, rackets and nets to the Vice Chancellor to have Air Badminton played on Campus.
The GBA, in a drive to have badminton played around Guyana is doing a number of projects which started last year when Air Badminton was launched in December 2020 at the National Park and St. Rose’s High School followed by Shuttle Time Programmes this month which was delivered to New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary School, Berbice High School, Mackenzie High School and the Christianburg Wismar Secondary School.
“Air Badminton is an ambitious new development project in partnership with HSBC, BWF’s Global Development Partner, designed to create opportunities for people of all ages and ability to play badminton on hard, grass and sand surfaces in parks, gardens, streets, playgrounds and beaches around the world,” the release stated.
The project has been five years in the making, starting with a vision to develop a new outdoor shuttlecock with increased durability, stability and wind resistance to allow people to have a more positive experience of badminton outdoors. Strategically, Air Badminton will allow the GBA to fulfil our overall objective of putting a badminton racket in the hands of as many people as possible.
“Given that most people’s first experience with badminton comes in an outdoor environment, we are now making it easier for everyone to access the sport through a new outdoor game and new shuttlecock, the Air Shuttle,” Ramdhani said.
He added, “In the future, we see Air Badminton as an exciting, new, energetic version of the sport. Overall, the aim is to inspire more people to play more badminton in more places.”
