Saunders

This weekend's staging of the annual Jamaica Badminton Association (JBA) Nestlé Jamaica/Young's Supermarket All-Jamaica Badminton Championship at the Constant Spring Golf Club's Racquet Complex will bring together reigning men's open singles champion Gareth Henry and many-time winner Charles Pyne.

The 28-year-old Pyne, who resides in Canada and missed the championship last year, will be seeded at number one by virtue of being the only person in the draw with a world ranking (369), while the 18-year-old Henry will be seeded at number two.

"It should be a good contest between myself and Pyne as he is a good player and I am always improving. But I am the champion and I plan to defend my title the best I can," said Henry during the tournament launch at the offices of the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) yesterday.

"I really want to make it to the next Olympics and winning the Open and performing well during the qualifiers on the circuit next year would go a long way towards achieving that," he added.

Action

The two-day championship, which will see action in men's and women's singles, doubles and mixed doubles, will also parade perennial singles champion and number-one women's seed, Nigella Saunders, as she puts her title on the line against her doubles partner Geordine Henry, last year's runner-up Carla Grant and juniors champion Mikaylia Haldane.

"We are looking forward to an exciting weekend. We expect the competition to be stiff in all categories and badminton fans should be in for a treat," said JBA president, Vishu Tolan.

During the launch, Tolan accepted a cheque from Craig Pinnock, sales executive from title sponsor Nestlé Jamaica, which is using its Nescafé brand for the tourney.

David Mais, chairman of the SDF, congratulated the JBA on its efforts to improve and spread the game despite the monetary challenges.

"The Government is in support of a sport that strives for standards at the Olympic level and badminton is one such sport. Badminton has the potential to make it to the 2012 Olympics and we will continue to support wherever we can," said Mais, who was responding to Tolan's call for additional assistance as the association embarks on a campaign for Olympic qualification.

"We will take a look at the SDF and see what we can do. I have to look at where the dollars will do best as our sponsorship list grows by the day as more and more companies are finding it increasingly difficult to continue sponsoring events," Mais added.

According to Tolan, it will cost the JBA approximately $10 million over the next two years to fund coaches and have players travel to participate in points-based Olympic qualifying tournaments around the globe.