A Successful Community Sports Demonstration

YONEX-SUNRISE Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2016 has been successfully held last month. Besides Hong Kong team’s historical good results, Hong Kong Badminton Association Limited also organized the ‘International Star Players Community Demonstration and Fun Day’ under BOCHK’s sponsorship, to let the star players have a chance to mix with the local students of secondary and primary school through badminton.

The ‘International Star Players Community Demonstration and Fun Day’ has been held every year during the Hong Kong Open. It aims to show local students the world class level of badminton and open up their vision of the future and lay the foundation of badminton through the interaction between the star players and students.

For the first time, the event has moved from local sports centre to the Hong Kong Coliseum, a place for top level badminton competitions. It was an eye-opening experience for many students. They have the chance to play against the world class players which improved them mentally and skillfully. Besides Hong Kong players Lee Cheuk Yiu, Or Chin Chung, Huang Yuxiang, Zheng Siwei, Huang Yaqiong of China Team and Malaysian Men’s Doubles Tan Wee Kiong, Goh Wei Shem have joined the event. At the beginning, technical demonstrations were given by the players, and followed by a numbers of friendly matches. After that, the students took turns to play against the players. Zheng Siwei played with 20 some students and said, ‘I am really tired.’

‘The star players were very friendly.’ Ms. Kam Kwok Fong, Vice President and Tournament Director, Hong Kong Badminton Association Limited who was impressed by the event said. ‘We provided the TV court for the students to play against the star players and let the students to experience playing at an international standard venue. During the community demonstration, we have 4 against 4 games. There were only 7 star players. Malaysian coach Jeremy Gan picked up the racquet and walked up to the court immediately. There was lots of laughter and applause which shows the fun of badminton.’

Besides students’ participation, many parents have also attended the event. Students enjoyed taking selfies and getting autographs from the players. Organizer has arranged an autograph session outside of the coliseum. Lots of parents and students were waiting in line and take photos at the 3D backdrops. 300 tickets of the semi-finals of YONEX-SUNRISE Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2016 were given away to students and parents. They all felt fulfilled about the Community Demonstration and Fun Day and wish to join next year.