Africa: Badminton Confederation of Africa Delegation to Meet Stakeholders The Herald (Harare) 18 January 2008 Harare

The visiting Badminton Confederation of Africa delegation will today meet all stakeholders in the sport at Prince Edward School.
The delegation - made up of vice-president Godfrey Masuwa and secretary-general Raj Gaya - arrived in the country on Wednesday. They met the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee whom they are working with closely to try and revive badminton. Raj Gaya said their four-day fact-finding mission will see them meet various stakeholders and set up an interim committee.
"We want to look at what is going on and set up an interim committee. "We are cutting across the section and would like to invite all stakeholders, anybody interested in the sport, to come and attend the meeting," said Gaya. The delegation will meet with the Sports Commission, parents, schools and universities before setting up the committee.
The confederation will also donate 100 shuttle corks, 50 rackets and nets towards the development of the sport.
Their main target will be schools. A local player Chipo Zumburani, who invited the officials, said they expect the visit to boost the sport in the country. "We expect to see a lot of activities being lined up after this and there should be formation of clubs and the sport should spread into other parts of the country.
"We will also hope to get a lot of assistance in terms of coaching and this should be the start of our marriage with the confederation."
The sport of badminton lost its appeal in the 1990s and has of late been mainly played in high schools with no national body running the game in the country.

Zimbabwe: Badminton Set for Revival The Herald (Harare) 16 January 2008 Collin Matiza Harare

The sport of badminton is set to be revived in Zimbabwe with the expected visit of the secretary-general of the Badminton Confederation of Africa, Raj Gaya of Mauritius, this week.
Gaya is scheduled to fly into the country this evening on a four-day fact-finding mission in which he is expected to meet all the stakeholders of badminton in Zimbabwe. The sport of badminton in Zimbabwe lost its appeal in the 1990s and has of late been mainly played in high schools with no national body running the game in the country.
But that is all set to end with the arrival today of Gaya who will be accompanied by BCA vice-president, Godfrey Masuka of Zambia. Gaya and Masuka will be visiting Zimbabwe at the invitation of a local badminton player Chipo Zumburani, who has all along been fighting to revive her favourite sport in the country.
Zumburani told The Herald yesterday that Gaya and Masuka will be in Harare for four days and they will have the opportunity of meeting officials from the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, the Sports Commission and National Association of Secondary Heads. "Gaya, in his official capacity as the secretary-general of BCA, and Masuka are coming to pay us a visit this week in an effort to revive the sport in Zimbabwe.
"They will be meeting ZOC, the Sports Commission and school heads of those schools that are currently playing badminton or have the sport's facilities at their schools. "They will also meet the players and I think this will go a long way in bringing the sport back on its feet as it has been dormant for three to four years," Zumburani said.
During their stay in Harare, Zumburani said, Gaya and Masuka will be meeting their accommodation expenses "since they are only here to assist us to revive the sport". She also revealed that badminton currently has no national body in place but they hope to have it in place after Gaya and Masuka's visit to this part of the world. "We have no national executive in place but John Imbeah and myself have been organising some events at school level only. But we hope to come up with an interim committee after the visit of Gaya and Masuka," Zumburani said.
But what is badminton?
Badminton has been played in Zimbabwe for over 70 years but ask anyone, especially the black population if they know of the sport and you are almost guaranteed a "No" for an answer. Those who do know a little about the sport think that it is squash or tennis, mainly because the rackets look similar. The badminton racket is similar to a squash racket but slightly smaller and lighter. The game is played indoors with a net of 1.8 metres high and instead of a ball, a shuttlecock is used. In addition to these points, the shuttlecock is not allowed to bounce like squash or tennis. All in all it is easy to see that badminton is unlike any other sport.
If anything, the skills required could probably be described as a combination of those used in volleyball and squash. Agility, speed, power, deception and fitness are all important qualities, which a good badminton player should have. These, combined with powerful thinking and a good chain of thought, will make an excellent player.
At one stage, in the late 1990s, Zimbabwe used to have 170 badminton players countrywide, most of whom were white but the sport was not only confined to white players as they were a number of blacks who were also playing it. Some of these players are Kudakwashe Chindavata, Moses Chiparura, Noel Dumisani, Cosmas Chamunokora and Brighton Kapuya, a former Zimbabwe Under-18 champion.
Presently the sport is being played at some Harare schools such as Queen Elizabeth, St George's, Prince Edward and Mufakose I High.