After making badminton history in the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Bintaro, Jakarta in last month the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will add a new chapter in the shuttle sport in the on-going Asian Games in Indonesia.
The Kingdom will be competing in the women’s singles and doubles when the individual events get underway at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta on Thursday.
The two history-making shuttlers who will carry the nation’s challenge in the Asiad are Rana Saud Abu Harbesh and Shatha Saleh Almutairi. The duo will compete in singles and will team up for the doubles event as well.
Saudi Arabia did not compete in, both, the men’s and women’s badminton team event which ended on Wednesday.
The Saudi Badminton Federation (SBF) has hired a coach from Syria, Ammar Awad, a former Mediterranean singles champion and Syrian national champion who has been coaching Saudi Arabia shuttlers for the last three years.
Rana Saud and Shatha are not expected to go far in the Asian Games but it is certainly a big boost to the sport in the country.
“It is a new beginning for Saudi Arabia to allow their women to compete in the sport. The experience and exposure of playing in a major meet like the Asian Games is a learning process for our players,” said Ammar.
In the Badminton Asia Junior Championships last month, Saudi Arabia was represented in the men’s singles by 14-year-old Abdulaziz Alothman, Muath Alghamdi (16 years); Nawaf Alghamdi (16 years) and Abdullah Alharthi (16 years). Abdulaziz and Abdullah also team up in the doubles.
They did not make any headway but the Kingdom has set “plans and goals” to take the game to greater heights with an eye on the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The SBF has already started at grassroots by going to the schools and according to Ammar, there is plenty of badminton talent which speaks well for the game.- Badminton Asia
