… Air Badminton to be launched December 17

GUYANA Badminton Association (GBA) held its Biennial General Meeting on Thursday at the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) with long-serving president Gokarn Ramdhani re-elected as head. GBA also plans to kick-start one of its programmes, an Air Badminton format, on December 17, at the National Park It hopes to launch with Demos and the general public is invited along with badminton players. The programme will start at 16:00hrs and end at 18:00hrs. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) and HSBC jointly launched a new outdoor game, Air Badminton, and a new outdoor shuttlecock, the Air Shuttle, at a global launch ceremony outside the Tianhe Gymnasium in Guangzhou, China, yesterday. 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 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. “This is a momentous occasion for badminton. Strategically, Air Badminton will allow us to fulfil our overall objective of putting a badminton racquet in the hands of as many persons 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. “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.” said Ramdhani. Meanwhile the executive members elected include – Sub-Committee, Emergency Committee (Disciplinary) – Dr Anna Perreira; Selection Committee (Players/Teams) – Chet Bowlen; Fixtures Committee (Matches & Competitions) – Dr Easa Sanichara; Fund-Raising Committee: Christine Kumar; National captain Akili Haynes; International captain: Narayan Ramdhani