“Competitive” badminton tournament kicks off sports’ Independence celebrations

The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS)-powered Independence Sports Festival will see its first instalment serving off this weekend, as the Guyana Badminton Association puts on a multi-category tournament at the National Gymnasium.

Badminton is one of 10 disciplines that will host tournaments as part of Guyana’s 60th Independence Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
Serving off on Thursday, May 14, the four-day tournament will see competition in the Open Singles, Under-23 Singles, Doubles, and Mixed-Doubles categories.
Sharing an update, Guyana Badminton Association (GBA) President Emily Ramdhani has revealed that preparations are going well.
“Preparations are coming along well. Everything is on stream so far. Today we’re having the draw and the technical meeting at the gymnasium,” Ramdhani told this publication.
Quizzed on the players’ response to the tournament, Ramdhani revealed that some 60 players are lined up for what is expected to be a competitive weekend.
The GBA President divulged, “We’ve had, I think so far, persons who’ve signed up in excess of 60 for all seven categories. So, let’s see how it goes on the day.”
“It’s better for persons who are participating. We adjusted and made all the additional logistic work that had to be done, and we included the category,” Ramdhani noted about the inclusion of the Open Singles (Men’s and Women’s) division.
“Well, we expect the tournament to be competitive. We will have one of our top players participating, Priyanna Ramdhani. She had an injury, and she’s still recovering, doing rehabilitation. So, it should be quite competitive. Akili is in the tournament, Nkosi, Mishka Beharry and the others, so we’ll see how it goes.”
“Fans can expect lots of competitive games, you know, good matches, especially in the Men’s doubles,” she added.
As the GBA boss looks forward to the upcoming competition, she expresses her association’s elation at being a part of the MCYS’ complement of tournaments.
“We come out to play badminton and have fun and play competitive games, and hopefully that will be the precedent of the tournament. Looking forward to seeing some good action this weekend.”
Ramdhani went on to state, “We had another tournament planned for this time, but when we met with Minister Ramson, we decided it was, without a doubt, we’d rebrand it to the Independence Tournament. The Guyana Badminton Association is very happy to be a part of Guyana’s Diamond Jubilee Independence anniversary, and we’re happy to have a tournament for four days for this Jubilee celebration.”
The GBA tournament will run from Thursday, May 14, to Sunday, May 17.
Athletics, Badminton, 3×3 Basketball, Dominoes, Hockey, Lawn Tennis, Squash, Softball Cricket, Table Tennis and Volleyball are the disciplines that will see competition as part of the Independence celebrations.