BADMINTON – THE first-ever Arab Para Badminton Championship got underway yesterday at Isa Sports City in Riffa.
Six nations are taking part in the ground-breaking, three-day competition, which is organised and run by the Bahrain Paralympic Committee (BPC) in co-operation with the Bahrain Badminton and Squash Federation (BBSF) and Badminton World Federation.
An opening ceremony was held prior to the start of play, with a number of dignitaries in attendance.
Tournament director and BPC finance and information technology director Mahmood Ashoori told the GDN of the significance of Bahrain hosting the event.
“This is the first version of the championship, and it is very crucial for the kingdom to host these kinds of tournaments, especially at the Arab level,” Ashoori said. “They will lead to other forms of para sports championships to be held in Bahrain, such as in athletics, boccia, and so on.
“We have hosted some other major para events in the past. The first-ever games the BPC organised was the Asian Youth Para Games in 2021. We had six months to prepare for that with more than 1,500 athletes and 2,400 overall participants and officials taking part. That was the biggest challenge of our small, 16-member team at BPC, which never hosted a competition of that nature prior to that. But it was a great success and we gained valuable experience to host, and because of that we also gained more confidence to organise games such as this Arab championship for para badminton.”
Host Bahrain are joined in the tournament by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, and Syria. There is a total field of 26 para athletes who will be contending for titles in their respective competition categories.
Ashoori envisions the tournament to be bigger in succeeding editions.
“Since it is the first Arab Para Badminton Championship, maybe the interest from other countries is not yet concrete, but once they see that it is beneficial, crucial, and fun, I am sure that there will be more participants in the future. That will make it more competitive for the Arab players to achieve medals,” said Ashoori.
“It is a good venue for Arab countries to develop their skills and grow to match the dominance of other Asian countries in para badminton.”
Bahrain is being represented by nine para badminton players in the competition. The squad includes Elias Alyasi, Hussain Abdulrahman, Ahmed Abu Siter, Zainab Yousif, Mohamed Abbas, Sayed Husain Ahmed, Nasser Alwakhza, Ayoob Asad and Fatema Asad.
The Arab Para Badminton Championship is the first of two international para badminton competitions set to take place in the kingdom in the coming fortnight. Following this regional event, which concludes on Sunday, the Bahrain Para Badminton International 2024 will be held from Tuesday to May 26 at the same venue.
The Bahrain Para Badminton International 2024 will be taking place in the kingdom for the third time.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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