General

Quotes, quotes, quotes.
Date: 7/3/2017 9:18 AM
Published by : Tania Teoh
The Women in Badminton Commission of Badminton Europe (BEC) offers annual scholarships to all our Member Associations. The objective of this initiative is to increase European female participation in various activities within badminton.

Since April, scholarship recipients from various groups have experienced different activities organized by BEC and the Badminton World Federation (BWF). Let’s take a closer look to the activities that these scholarships recipients attended since April.

2017 BEC Congress – Prague, Czech Republic

A total of 6 ladies received the scholarship to attend the 2016 BEC Congress. During the weekend in Prague, they attended the BEC Members’ Forum, 50th Annual Delegates’ Meeting, which includes our 50th Anniversary celebration and the 5th BEC Awards Gala evening. These ladies work for their respective national federations daily and for some, it was their first time ever experiencing such an event.


Klavs Andreassen (centre) with some of the scholarship recipients at the 2017 BEC Congress in Prague, Czech Republic.


Maria Bubucea (MOL)
´It was great being there. I was really excited to meet new people and to find out a lot of useful information. I was really curious about how things were going to be organized, about other countries’ experiences and I can say my expectations were exceeded´.

Tamara Geerearts (BEL)
´The information we received from Badminton Europe about all the possibilities to support our federation is something I’m definitely bringing back to Belgium. The internships are very interesting but also a possible visit from someone in the office could be very helpful! Everything was just perfect and I hope I will have the opportunity to experience this all again next year´.

Jo´anne Cassar (MAL)
´This was my first experience attending the BEC Congress, and can comfortably say it will be an unforgettable one.  I was very impressed with the hard work done by all the staff and board members.  They were all very willing to make themselves available for a chat or for any help we could be offered.  My mind is at rest that BEC is there ready to support us´.

2017 BWF Para-Badminton International Tournaments – Alcudia, Spain and Antalya, Turkey

New female para-badminton players who received this scholarship head to Alcudia and Antalya to be classified and later play their very first international tournament after they were classified as ‘Confirmed’. The new para-badminton players included in the latest BWF Classification Master list are: Mary Wilson (SCO) SL4, Daria Bujnicka (POL) SS6, Marcela Quinteros Covella (ESP) WH2 and Irina Kuzmenko (RUS) WH1.


New female para-badminton scholarship recipients at 2017 BWF Para-Badminton International tournaments in Spain and Turkey.


Marcela Quinteros Covella (ESP)
´The scholarship has allowed me to afford the hotel and meals expenses and it was a very important help cause I had to arrive the place 2 days before competition in order to be classified. It was a wonderful experience for me, no matter how much I train if I do not play against wheelchair players it is not possible to improve, getting sensations on the court, the match development, times and rhythm make me find myself motivated to keep training´.

2017 BEC Umpire Courses – Timisiora, Romania and Jelgava, Latvia

At the Romania and Latvia International, BEC Umpire Assessors Michael Nemec, Peter Ganes and Preben Nøies, David Hinton conducted an umpire course in Timisiora and Jelgava respectively. In these courses, five scholarship recipients attended the course in Romania and one attended the course in Latvia. They were all ‘put to work’ and took their umpiring job very seriously. During the tournaments, they were assessed and given tips and guidance to improve their umpiring skills.


All scholarship recipients at the BEC Umpire Course during the 2017 Romania International in Timisiora.


Fidan Huseynli (AZB)
´I am very thankful to Badminton Europe for providing such an opportunity to me, as a new starter these courses bring me more insight into fair umpiring and I am very happy to be part of this family. Mostly I liked the training before we started umpiring that prepared us, and then after each game we could get feedback on what was right and what was wrong. This made things easier for me as I am just starting umpiring´.

Tea Grofelnik (CRO)
´I would encourage my female friends and colleagues to go on tournament with me so they can see that it is fun and good for them like for me. I would tell them that umpiring bring me so much in my private life. This course for me was very useful because I learned so much with my colleagues about rules for ones we weren’t sure how to apply them on the court´.

Viola Marianna (ITA)
´Surely I have gained more experience and security in my actions. Some advices of the evaluators was precious, I tried to put them into practice right away and I will strive to give more and more to reach higher levels. I hope other women will start an umpire career because it is a way to always know new people, join the big family of badminton, see and arbitrate high-level matches and be able to travel´.

Klavs Andreassen, Chair of Women in Badminton Commission, ´The scholarship initiative has been really popular and I am really happy that our Member Associations benefit from such a project. We hope that the recipients will inspire more women to join our sport and continue to contribute in their various ways. The WiB Commission will elaborate further on the scholarship initiative at our next meeting in September´.

The final group of scholarship recipients will be attending the 2017 BEC Summer School in Podcetrtek, Slovenia (8 - 15 July). An article about the recipients will be published after the completion of the Summer School.

To read more about the Women in Badminton Scholarship, click here.

To view photos from the scholarship recipients, click here.

For more information about the scholarship application, please contact Tania Teoh at tania.teoh@badmintoneurope.com.

Photos by Badminton Europe and BEC scholarship recipients.

©badmintoneurope.com. All rights reserved.

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