Dubai: Ahmad Al Sharif, the general secretary of Dubai Sports Council (DSC), admitted the UAE needs to create a badminton federation on the sidelines of Tuesday’s 100-day countdown to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals.
Dubai entered a four-year agreement with the BWF in April to hold the $1 million (Dh3.7 million) finale of the 12-stage MetLife BWF World Superseries until 2017, starting with the inaugural event at the Hamdan Sports Complex on December 17-21.
The agreement prompted the launch of the Shuttletime Dubai grassroots initiative in July, which initially looks to grow the game to more than 3,000 children aged between eight and 16 years old at 40 schools.
But the lack of a UAE Badminton Federation to oversee the sport’s growth locally has been noted and Al Sharif revealed that one of the legacies of top-class badminton’s arrival here would be the eventual creation of a national body.
“Yes, we are working towards the creation of an association in the UAE,” he said. “With the cooperation of the BWF we hope to organise more competitions and enhance the popularity of the game.
“The number of players and competitions we organise will decide when we are going to expand into an organisational structure in Dubai.”
Thomas Lund, the BWF general secretary, offered to help the UAE set up a federation, but said it could take time.
“At some point there should be a federation, but this is a work in progress — I think we need to take it step-by-step,” he said.
“With what we are doing here with the Shuttletime programme, at some point there will be a UAE player who will be good enough to join the circuit and that’s when we need to have a federation in place connected to the UAE Olympic Committee.”
Dubai stands to gain worldwide exposure from hosting badminton’s year-ender, with the event televised to more than 160 countries with a household reach of more than 300 million people. In turn, the deal facilitates badminton’s growth. But as important to both parties is the event’s legacy in the region and its positive effect on national health.
Denmark’s Peter Gade, a former world No. 1 and five-time European Champion, hailed Dubai’s vision.
“The combination of grassroots and elite level sports here is exactly what you need to grow the game,” he said.
“And Dubai is not just talking about it, they are actually doing it, hopefully from that we will see a federation form and youngsters start to play the game.”
Only the world’s top eight-ranked players from the Destination Dubai Superseries Rankings in men’s and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles will qualify to the year-ender.
Leading the charge in the men’s singles category with four events to go is defending champion Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, who is more than 18,560 points clear of next-placed reigning world champion Chen Long of China.
The fight for the top spot in the women’s singles is much closer, with just 6,060 points separating China’s two top-ranked players, 2012 Olympic champion Li Xuerui and former world No. 1 Wang Shixian.
