The Guyana Badminton Association on Friday afternoon launched Air Badminton at the University of Guyana Turkeyen Campus in an effort to continue spreading the game across Guyana.
National and International champions Narayan Ramdhani and Priyanna Ramdhani conducted the programme, which served to introduce the game to the University’s staff and students.
Present at the ceremony were Vice-Chancellor Professor Paloma Mohamed-Martin, Dr. Anna Perreira, representatives of the Tain Campus, along with the members of the Biology, Robotics and University of Guyana Student Society clubs.
The students and club members will pass on their knowledge of the game to the students.
President of the Association, Gokarn Ramdhani, made a presentation of shuttlecocks, racquets and nets to the Vice-Chancellor to help kickstart the programme on campus.
The Association, 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. Roses High School.
This was followed by Shuttle Time Projects, which were 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 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 to fulfil our overall objective of putting a badminton racket in the hands of as many people as possible.
The Guyana Badminton Association said: “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.”