Posted Sade Ayodele
The indoor sports hall of MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja was lightened up at the weekend with the first badminton invitational tourney titled “Shuttlemania”.
The two-day event was sponsored by an upcoming airline, K-Impex Air.
The competition which commenced Friday, 17th December came to a climax on Saturday evening with presentations of laurels to winners and the hosting of banquet by the City Gate Club.
The tournament was truly a revival inspiration for the dying sport as it was a revelation and talent discovery for both young and old folks in the world’s revered indoor game.
The Managing Director of K-Impex Airline, Dr Abel Ozigi said his organisation undertook to bankroll the competition for the purpose of reviving the dying game in the country.
He stated that the maiden edition was restricted to Abuja based clubs alone but assured that the subsequent editions would be upgraded to a regional event and later graduate to national competition.
Dr Ozigi who is a board member of the Badminton Federation described the game as one of the most globally celebrated sports and further stressed that his intention was to bring badminton to standard that will bring laurels for the country at the world stages especially the Olympics.
The K-Impex chief executive officer further added that the maiden edition was just meant to test the waters adding that he was impressed with the enthusiasm and the excitement generated by it.
“Honesty what l have seen today has proved to me that there is future for the game and we will do our best to bring it to an enviable standards in a very near future.
The Chairman of the City Gate Club Abuja, Mr Aminu Sani was full of praises to K-Impex Airline for coming to rescue the game which according to him was going instinct.
He added that he was happy that the chief executive of K-Impex, “who is also a member of my club is someone who shares same vision with me concerning badminton”.
The winners for the various categories are;
35-49 double- City Gate club
50+ double –Kubwa 111 Club
Mixed doubles–,City Gate Club
Women’s doublr–City Gate Club
