Primary school competition to boost badminton

Badminton Fiji president Abel Caine says introducing badminton to primary school level is key to developing stronger players for the future.

Caine made the comment during an interview with SUNsports on Wednesday during of the inaugural National Primary Schools Badminton Championship.

“We've been organising the secondary school’s tournament for nearly 30 years. We've never organised a primary school's tournament,” Caine said.

“When I came on board in January, I noticed that the secondary school kids are not as good as the overseas secondary school kids.

“One of the reasons for that is we're not giving the primary school kids the introduction, the basics, the fundamentals. So it was one of my goals this year, we must have a primary school's tournament.”

He said the tournament had also received support from Badminton Oceania and the Badminton World Federation as part of efforts to strengthen the sport's development pathway.

“Badminton Oceania, where all of the Pacific Island countries belong. They were really helpful to me when I met them for the first time in February, just after being elected.

“They gave me this nice five-year plan. To organise a tournament like this we’ve received magnificent support from Badminton World Federation and Badminton Oceania Confederation.

“We have got fantastic support from Sports World, our major sponsor, CK's Mega Bargain, Damodar Cinemas and Gem Fiji, who did all of our printing, our wristbands, our certificates, as well as Punjas Fiji for providing gift packs for all of the medallists,” he added.