Longstanding Guyana Badminton Association (GBA) executive, Emily Ramdhani, was elected president when the body held its annual general meeting and elections recently at Olympic House, Liliendaal. Ramdhani was nominated by Darrell Carpenay and seconded by Ryan Chung. Ayana Watson was elected vice-president while Carpenay (treasurer), Marlon Chung (assistant treasurer), Priyanna Ramdhani (secretary) and Shivanie Persaud (assistant secretary) were also elected.
The committee members are Ryan Chung, Ernesto Choo-A-Fat and Akili Haynes. All positions were unanimously elected with Marlon Chung serving as the Returning Officer. The new president told this publication that it is a major priority for the association in 2023 to take the sport into the schools with interests already shown in Linden, Berbice and Essequibo.
Ramdhani explained that the body will be embarking on several distribution exercises to equip future players with racquets, shuttlecocks and nets, particularly in the schools. “Hopefuly in the outlying regions where we think that the outdoor aspect of the Game Air Badminton will be more readily accessible. The shuttles for this aspect of the game was modified for playing outdoor and for the wind factor. These donations will be made possible through our international affiliations Badminton Pan American and the Badminton World Federation,” she said.
She continued, “We will also continue to work with our senior players as PanAm Games and Olympics 2024 are soon approaching. We are hoping our national players Narayan Ramdhani and Priyanna Ramdhani can qualify for Olympics 2024. However, to do this we will need to attend at least 6-7 international tournaments in the region and further afield in 2023. We’re hoping to solicit the help of our corporate sponsors, the National Sports Commission and the Guyana Olympic Association.”
Next month, the body will be aware of the players qualifying for the PanAm Games in Santiago, Chile which is set for October, 2023.
