Leemisa Thuseho
THE Lesotho Badminton Association will be officially launched with a tournament at Sefika High School on Sunday.
This after the successful registration of the association with the Lesotho Sport and Recreation Commission (LSRC) last year.
The association’s interim secretary general Mohlala Mopeli told the Lesotho Times revealed they were out to energise the sport that has existed in Lesotho since the late 90s by introducing well-coordinated systems.
“Badminton had been there since late 90s and it was handled by the then Lesotho Sport Council (now LSRC),” Mopeli said.
“Along the way badminton become inactive. There were no tournaments, no development, therefore we were wiped off from the commission’s list of existing member associations.”
According to Mopeli, by the time they tried to get the association back on the list, they were told to start the application process afresh and were only approved last year.
Despite losing their local membership, they were still recognised by the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“Even though we were no longer recognised by the commission, were still being recognised by the world federation and it helped us train schools teachers and other trainers through their Shuttle Time Programme,” he added.
So far, they have trained seven trainers and 140 teachers all over the country through the assistance of BWF.
“We started by capacitating people who will help us develop the sport all over the country and we are looking forward to having official trainings soon.”
Like many other indoor sports, badminton will struggle for facilities but Mopeli said they would use halls for now.
“We just need big halls for us to set up our courts and play. Again, it is not an expensive sport to play,” Mopeli said.
He also noted that badminton was one of the sporting codes selected for the 2022 African Youth Games to be hosted by Lesotho hence they would work hard to assemble competitive teams by then.
Mopeli also said they would hand over badminton equipment that includes nets, ratchets and shuttlecocks that they received from the BWF to schools and clubs.
