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Badminton saw much development in 2013 says GBA President
By Sean Devers
President of the Guyana Badminton Association (GBA), Gokarn Ramdhani, feels that activities for this year was one of development and success, especially with the Junior Players who continue to move in an upward direction this year both locally and internationally.
Gokarn Ramdhani
Ramdhani has been involved in Badminton since 1983. He is the father of Guyana’s top two junior players, Caribbean Gold Medalist Priyanna Ramdhani and her brother Caribbean & South American Bronze Medalist Narayan and was himself was a National Junior player until 1985.
“We (GBA) are delighted to win the Runner-up for the 2012 Junior Sportswoman award after winning the Junior Sportswoman of the Year the previous year. This shows the continuous progress Badminton is making,” Ramdhani stated.
The Association held six local tournaments and attended four international Tournaments during 2013, winning six medals (1-Gold, 1-Silver & 4 Bronze) at the Suriname Junior Easter International championships.
“This year once again saw the Junior Players performing outstandingly – for the fifth year in a row – at the Caribbean Badminton Championships which was played in Puerto Rico in September. We (Guyana) got fourth in the Team Tournament and won eight medals (2-Golds, 2-Silvers & 4 Bronze) in the Individuals Events,” the GBA head disclosed.
He informed that at the South American Youth Games, which was held in Peru in September, Guyana gained two Bronze medals at such a high level tournament in the Under-19 Boys Singles and Mixed Doubles. Both of the Guyanese are aged below 15 and were attending the tournament for the first time.
“At the Suriname Open International in November our two top Players were able to improve their World Badminton Rankings in both singles and doubles,” Ramdhani who is also a coach, proudly reveled.
Ramdhani expressed his happiness in his elevation to the position of Secretary General of the Caribbean Regional Badminton Federation (CAREBACO) for the term 2014-2016.
The GBA President said the Association is still facing problems of getting a large quantity of Feather Shuttlecocks to play all year round.
“Because of the high cost we use the feather Shuttlecocks for some National Tournaments and to train the teams for International Competitions where these are the only shuttles that are used. We use the plastic shuttlecocks for practice,” Ramdhani lamented.
“We are also in the need of getting the synthetic courts which is being used at all games internationally. We are also applying to the National Sports Commission (NSC) for the use of the wooden
Guyana Junior Badminton players at an international event in 2013.
courts at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall,” the GBA top man informed.
He said that this is very important especially for the players who risked injury to their knees and ankles. He explained that because of the preparation on the hard Concrete courts the players get more pressure as their game develops to a higher standard.
“The current courts we use are concrete surface and are not good for the developed players. We are also looking forward to a very good 2014 and will continue to work with our developmental plan as we see this is getting us more medals in the international circuit,” Ramdhani added.
The GBA thanked the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) for making much effort in helping Badminton in all the different aspects of Courses, Tournaments and Financial Help and especially picking Badminton for the South American Youth Games where Guyana was able to gain so much experience and measure their ability with the rest of the world.
“I happy to say our players are on the right track and have the ability to be on top. We would also like to thank the National Sports Commission for their continuous support and look forward to them including Badminton in the Inter-Guyana Games. We would also like to thank our Sponsors for their assistance this year and look forward to their continuous support in helping us develop Badminton next year,” Ramdhani concluded.
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