GETTING the sport more integrated into the school system, through the distribution of kits to the 14 teachers who participated in the shuttle time programme last year, is high on the agenda of the Guyana Badminton Association as it enters its 2018 season.

Describing 2017 as a very successful year for badminton, president of the Guyana Badminton Association (GBA), said, “The shuttle time programme that we did with the 14 schools was a successful thing.. We had an international tutor come in and we introduced badminton at the simple level to PE teachers from 14 different schools.
“We did a two-week training programme, theory and practical and they all got certified along with four tutors,”

“We will now donate the 14 kits to the teachers, and when we give them the equipment they can start it up in the schools, which we’ll now start from January.”
The shuttle time programme was just one of a list of things that Ramdhani said made 2017 a very prosperous year for the sport, noting that, however small, the sport saw improvements in almost every area.

“I think it was very, very successful. Our goal really was to attend the Caribbean Games and do well and we did. We came back with 8 medals. At the Caribbean Games for the last 7 years we’ve been medalling so we try to keep that up,” Ramdhani noted.
“We were able to get into the Pan Am Hope Challenge for the seniors and juniors. And we had a lot of successful local tournaments.

The biggest achievement of the year, however, was the development displayed by the players in their skills.
“Our players are improving faster in the training. We improved on the international level. The players improved. They medalled better, compared to 2016. They are paying more attention and coming to practice.

“Narayan played in the Vancouver tournament in 2016 he got bronze, in 2017 he played and got gold. For Priyanna when she went to the South American Youth Games she beat players who had beaten her in 2016.”