Guyana’s highest-ranked female badminton player, Priyanna Ramdhani and Guyana’s second-ranked male player, Akili Haynes, who has been dominant on the local badminton scene for the past few years, will head to Cali, Colombia, later this year for the Pan American 2021 Junior Games.
Priyanna Ramdhani and Akili Haynes
According to a missive from the Guyana Badminton Association (GBA), Guyana has qualified for the first Pan American Junior Games (Cali 2021), which is scheduled for November 25 to December 5, 2021, with Guyana being afforded one male and one female spot.
This qualification came directly as a result of Ramdhani and her older brother Narayan breaking into the world rankings only a few weeks ago.
However, as Narayan will be over the required Under-23 age limit by that time, Haynes will take the male spot. He is an upcoming national player who was a bronze medallist at the Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation (CAREBACO) Juniors in 2018 and also attended the World Juniors in Canada, during the same year.
Ramdhani who is attending Olds College in Alberta, Canada on a badminton scholarship played at the Pan American Individual Championships in Guatemala early in May 2021 to help secure the spots.
The GBA is said to be pleased with the outcome of the qualification results once again and will be meeting with the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) and Culture, Youth and Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr to finalise funding for their training leading up to the games.
