Badminton enthusiasts in the Sultanate of Oman discussed the challenges faced by badminton sport during a forum at Al Amal club on Saturday. Jaber bin Mohammed al Shabibi, Director of Teams Affairs in the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth and Dr Abdulrahim bin Musallam al Daroushi, Chairman of Oman Racket Sports Committee (ORSC) were the chief guests of the forum.
The one-day meet, organised by ORSC, addressed all the issues and challenges that are facing the badminton sport in Oman. The participants including coaches, referees and sports teachers from different parts of Oman attended the discussion and proposed several solutions, proposals and projects towards providing the necessary development of the sport. The common issues which were discussed by the participants in the forum could be summarised in the following areas: identifying and selecting appropriate talents through following proper methods, discussing the shortage of training facilities and venues for badminton as well as organising more local and international badminton events.
The participants were divided into several groups and each group discussed and reviewed the main challenges and presented the most prominent solutions and appropriate proposals to confront these challenges. The main challenges and observations of each group were the lack of sports knowledge by the local player and his awareness on the rules and regulations of the sport, shortage of human resources to hold training and umpiring courses to graduate more Omani people in this field and lack of a suitable environment and venues to hold the competitions and events.
Later, the groups presented some proposals that will support the growth of badminton in Oman. The solutions included allocating technical committees to select talented players, coordinating with the relevant institutions and academies to utilise the existing venues and adding badminton facilities in the sporting complexes, organising more tournaments and competitions, coordinating with the Oman Schools Sports Association (OSSA) to enhance the participation of male and female students in this sport, holding various training courses for players, coaches and umpires, and coordinating with the relevant authorities in making the proper use of the sports facilities in which the badminton facility is available.
Ruqiya al Omairi, Board member of ORSC, affirmed that the forum targeted all the badminton lovers to discuss different challenges and the best solutions towards developing the sport. “It was a beneficial session as all the participants shared their ideas and thoughts for developing the game in Oman. We are looking forward to having more of these sessions in the upcoming period,” she said.
Hilal al Maqarashi, one of the participants in the forum, said the forum highlighted a number of issues related to badminton in Oman. “It was a good event that shared all the strategic priorities and our future directions for developing the sport through a number of elements like the facilities, human resources and development of talents,” he concluded.
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