Badminton centre opens in Kazan

The Badminton Centre opened in Kazan on February 13. The venue is located on the premises of the Kazan Tennis Academy. The opening ceremony was attended by President of the Republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov. Special guests at the event were Badminton World Federation (BWF) President and member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen, Russian Badminton Federation President Sergey Shakhray, Tatarstan's Minister of Youth Affairs and Sport Vladimir Leonov, Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin and other officials.

“Our dream has come true – a new wonderful venue has been opened in Kazan. For the time being it’s the only badminton-specific venue in our country. The opening of a new venue is always a landmark event. Badminton is an affordable sport, useful and efficient,” Rustam Minnikhanov said in his welcome speech.

According to the President, as recently as five years ago there were only 124 badminton players in Tatarstan. Since that time the number of people involved in this sport increased to almost 10,000 people.“These changes are really impressive,” Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen said during his speech. “Another important thing is that vision problem researches will also be conducted here. Sport and scientific studies are the best combination. I want to thank all those who supported this project and the opportunity to show that badminton helps improve eyesight. I hope that those who train to play badminton here will be able to compete at the Olympic Games some day.”