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Kenya: Badminton - Championship Starts On Friday
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The Nation (Nairobi)
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 26 March 2008
Sammy Kitula
Nairobi
Players from 10 countries, incluing Malaysia, Portugal, India and Spain, are expected to feature in the annual Kenya International Badminton Championships will be held this weekend at the Premier Club, Nairobi.
The three-day event, which is expected to start on Friday, will run until Sunday.
Kenya Badminton Association (KBA) secretary, Fred Gituku, said that local players will be using the championship to try and qualify for the Beijing Olympics to be held in August.
"The event will provide a useful opportunity for our players to earn World Ranking points in a bid to qualify for the Beijing Games," said Gituku.
Ranked top in Africa
Kenya's men's top doubles pair of Patrick Ruto and Himesh Patel who qualified for the World Championships in 2007 after they were ranked top in Africa at some point last year, will be looking to collect enough points to qualify for the Olympics.
In women's singles, Kenya will be placing their hopes on Anita Alube and Rita Ndung'u.
The latter, who resumed training recently, will be chasing her fitness after tearing her Achilles tendon last year. Men's singles hopefuls include Gituku, Victor Odera and Daniel Opondo.
Local players have been training at the Premier Club in Nairobi, while those based in Kisumu and Mombasa have been training in their respective towns.
According to Gituku, Kenya will miss the invaluable services of two top women players - Irene Kerimah and Anna Maina.
Singles champion
"Irene, the defending women's singles champion emigrated, to the US while former singles champion, Anna has retired from competitive badminton," added the secretary general.
Other countries expected to send players are Iran, South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Mauritius and Seychelles. Previous editions have attracted participants from France, Israel, India, England, and numerous African countries.
This competition forms part of African badminton circuit comprising of five international tournaments, held in Mauritius, South Africa, Morocco and Nigeria.
The tournament to be played under World Badminton Federation laws, is a WBF sanctioned championship that carries world-ranking points.
The event will include men's singles, women's singles, Men's doubles, women's doubles and Mixed doubles.
Umpires course
The draw for the event will be conducted on Thursday from 6 pm at the Premier Club by the tournament referee from Mauritius, Satiawan Mahadoo. He will also run an umpires course at the Club in the afternoon to which 12 local umpires have been invited.
They will serve as line judges and umpires during the event.
The championship is the first high ranking event to be held this year, after the Thomas and Uber Cup that was scheduled to take place late last month in Kenya, was moved to Mauritius.
According to Raj Gaya, the secretary of the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA), the body was forced to switch the tournament from Kenya to Mauritius because of the unrest that was being witnessed in the country at the time.
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"In spite of all the assurances given by the Kenyan Government to Kenya Badminton Federation with regard to the security of the players, BCA Council looked into the matter and was very worried for their safety," Raj Gaya's statement read in part.
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