PRESIDENT of the Guyana Badminton Association (GBA), Emily Ramdhani, says the body had many successes in 2024 and is focused on continuing to grow and expand the sport this year.

Over 2024, Ramdhani said the GBA’s aim was geared towards awareness, athletes’ development, as well as active participation in local and international tournaments.

She highlighted that their activities strengthened the foundation for the growth of badminton, fostering greater interest and success among young people.

“I think it’s an improvement from the year before, we had 16 medals in the junior category and five in the senior category and I’m feeling so proud of that. The executive committee is also extremely proud of our athletes; we are going above and beyond to get these children to a higher standard; we will continue to work with them for 2025 and hopefully we get a better year,” She said.

She singled out the likes of Akili Haynes and Priyanna Ramdahni for the work they have done to achieve a decent measure of success at the senior level.

Last year, Guyana’s badminton teams captured eight bronze medals at the Suriname Easter Junior Badminton Tournament; eight bronze medals in the CAREBACO Junior Tournament; one bronze medal in Costa Rica along with one silver and three bronze at the Suriname International.
The long-time badminton player and wife of former Caribbean champion Gokarn, said they have made donation of equipment to schools and communities in Berbice and Essequibo to help grow the sport through their shuttle-time programme, saying, “In addition to getting medals we also did some outreaches in Essequibo; we went to a couple of schools, did demonstrations on badminton, introduced them to the sport and gave them shuttle -time kits. We are looking forward to doing a similar one this year.”
Ramdhani says they will also look to expand, adding, “We will be doing an air badminton tournament. We have not gotten a venue as yet but we are working on that, it has to be done on sand. We investigated the Marriott beach but that is too windy, but we are looking forward to having the tournament this year.”
The GBA also built capacity as Priyanna Ramdhani successfully completed the Level One and Level Two Event Managers Course in collaboration with the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and the World Academy of Sports.
Both Narayan and Priyanna Ramdhani have become qualified Level One Coaches.

In addition, the body hosted six local tournaments and competed in six regional and international competitions.