Tolan ... the biggest pool of talent will always rest within the inner city

Inner-city communities are now providing the nucleus for the junior badminton programme in Jamaica, hence changing the image of the sport from an elitist one to being more inclusive.

The thrust to get inner-city youth involved in badminton was undertaken by Robert Richards, a former president of the Jamaica Badminton Association (JBA), as well as a former Caribbean and All-Jamaica champion. The mantle has since been taken up by Lisco Jackson, who is the inner city badminton coordinator and coach.

The current president of the JBA, Vishu Tolan, believes that to enhance the growth of the sport of badminton and Jamaica, you have to go wider than uptown.

"The biggest pool of talent will always rest within the inner city. They are more athletic, they are hungry for success and it is the biggest population," Tolan said.

"If you are running a junior tournament now, the inner city represents a minimum of 60 per cent of the entries," he added.

Many participated in the LIME-sponsored Inner-city Badminton Tournament, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year with 257 entries, a far cry from the 10 players entered in its first year. The tournament, which ended on Sunday, was played in three divisions B, C and D and the Under-13 age group over three weekends at two venues - Haile Selassie High and St Anne's High.

National junior champion, Dennis Coke of St Anne's High, topped the B Division for boys and Jahvaine Henry of St Hugh's High won the girls' B Division.

Tolan is very pleased with the impact the inner-city programme has been having.

"The inner-city programme is about 10 years old and it has evolved as you now have inner-city schools winning the badminton schools championships," he said.

He is, however, concerned about the support that is forthcoming, for the sport.

"Outside of LIME, we really don't get much more support. Something that we have to put some more energy into is to try to secure sponsorship within these communities from business places," Tolan said.

"LIME's sponsorship in the past years has been like a million dollars to our inner-city programme. Right now, we are trying to tie up this year's (09/10) sponsorship with them and we suspect that they will come on board shortly," he added.

That aside, the JBA's president is heartened by the support they receive from the communities.

"The communities support you because they know that you are there for them, to support the kids in terms of playing. By and large, they support the sport in that they allow their kids to play and they come out to tournaments in the inner city. There is a certain sense of pride and achievement within the family network," Tolan pointed out.

He added: "Our Under-11 programme in Jamaica right now is at least 90 per cent inner-city kids playing the sport and they will represent Jamaica. So the kids are gravitating to the sport, they see winners in it and it teaches them discipline.

"Instead of sitting on the roadside, it provides an avenue for them to be off the road playing a non-contact sport. It provides an opportunity for them to travel which they wouldn't normally have gotten the opportunity to do."

Tolan continued: "The inner city is the largest pool of talent Jamaica has, it is how we harness it and how we use it."

Following are the results of all finals at Sunday's LIME-sponsored Inner-City Badminton Tournament:

B Division

Men's Singles: Dennis Coke defeated Anthony McNee 21-19, 21-17;

Ladies Singles: Jahvaine Henry defeated Stacy-Ann Blake 21-8, 25-23;

Men's Doubles: Dennis Coke & Anthony McNee defeated Lenroy Grant & Jamarey Gordon 21-16, 21-15;

Ladies Doubles: Jahvaine Henry & Sheinell Hyatt defeated Stacy-Ann Blake & Shamika Pink 21-9, 21-19.

Mixed Doubles: Anthony McNee & Stacy-Ann Blake defeated Jamarey Gordon & Nicole Smith 21-14, 21-17.

C Division

Men's Singles: Jamari Rose defeated Ackeem Maxfill 15-21, 21-18, 21-8;

Ladies Singles: Sheinell Hyatt defeated Shameka Pink 21-8, 21-10;

Men's Doubles: Lenroy Grant & Jamarey Gordon defeated Keron Thompson & Maurice McLauren 21-18, 20-22, 21-17;

Ladies Doubles: Sheinell Hyatt & Nockeisha White defeated Shameka Pink & Iesha Gordon 21-16, 21-11;

Mixed Doubles: Jamarey Gordon & Nicole Smith defeated Maurice McLauren & Shameka Pink 21-16, 21-13.

D Division

Men's Singles: Bryan Thompson defeated Omar Bravo 21-17, 21-13;

Ladies Singles: Iesha Gordon defeated Shameka Pink 17-21, 22-20, 21-12;

Men's Doubles: Bryan Thompson & Omar Bravo defeated Adrian Lee & Romario Stephens 21-17, 21-18;

Ladies Doubles: Shameka Pink & Keshana Wilson defeated Iesha Gordon & Shantae Smith 21-13, 21-16;

Mixed Doubles: Omar Bravo & Shameka Pink defeated Bryan Thompson & Claudia Evans 22-24, 21-10, 21-19.

Under 13

Boys Singles: Demetri Francis defeated Marco Brown 21-18, 21-10;

Girls Singles: Iesha Gordon defeated Shantae Smith 21-16, 22-20;

Boys Doubles: Marco Brown & Alton Fogo defeated Demetri Francis & Daniel Blagrove 18-21, 24-22, 21-12;

Girls Doubles: Iesha Gordon & Keshana Wilson defeated Shantae Smith & Kimoya Lopez 21-10, 21-17;

Mixed Doubles: Alton Fogo & Iesha Gordon defeated Demetri Francis & Kimoya Lopez 21-13, 26-24.