Dubai World Superseries Badminton takes top flight

Dubai - The Shuttle Time show has travelled to five schools to spread the message about the World Superseries Finals and Shuttle Time Dubai.

Badminton fever has hit Dubai, with the world's best players arriving in just a few days' time ahead of the BWF Dubai World Superseries Finals to be held at the Hamdan Sports Complex from Dec.9-13.
The spectacular event will showcase the top-eight finishers on the BWF Destination Dubai Rankings in men's and women's singles and doubles and mixed doubles, following the conclusion of the 12 MetLife BWF World Superseries qualifying tournaments. Heading the line-up are world champions Chen Long of China and Spain's Carolina Marin, Indian stars Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, and badminton legend, two time Olympic champion and five time world champion Lin Dan.
And as the excitement builds, several thousand local children have been getting into the mood as the Dubai World Superseries Finals roadshow makes its way around schools in the region ahead of the season-ending finale.
Already this month, the Shuttle Time show has travelled to five schools to spread the message about the World Superseries Finals and Shuttle Time Dubai. Among the schools visited are Rashid School for Boys, Sharjah International American School, Our Own English High School, School of Research Science and Jumeirah College.
Each visit has seen Dubai Badminton Development Manager Jaffer Ebrahim give a demonstration of top flight badminton followed by coaching sessions for all children in attendance. The ever-popular mascots, Ta'er and Reesha also make an appearance and are always very enthusiastically received.
Ebrahim, a former Bahraini badminton national champion said, "These school visits are a wonderful way to promote the sport and the event, and it's great to see the enthusiasm of the children, for both the mascot visits and the coaching sessions. Thanks to the Shuttle Time Dubai initiative, we have already seen a huge increase in the number of local schoolchildren taking to the courts.
"Together, these schools have a total of around 15,000 staff and pupils. We hope that by visiting them and leaving them with skills, enthusiasm and equipment, we are generating a buzz around the Dubai World Superseries Finals and badminton generally."
But the badminton buzz hasn't been restricted to just schools, with over 800 local enthusiasts competing in the Friday Smashers Club Tournament also treated to a visit by the mascots and given the opportunity to win tickets to the World Superseries Finals.
And at the Host Cities Summit held last week at Fairmont The Palm, the President of the Badminton World Federation, Poul-Erik Høyer, met with students from two of the Local Training Centres as they demonstrated some of the skills they have learnt through Shuttle Time. Badminton was also a popular activity at both the Dubai International Financial Centre and Dubai International Marine Club on National Sports Day on 25 November.
Organisers are expecting a huge turnout of schoolchildren to attend the event on the designated Schools' Days on Dec. 9-10. Special arrangements will be in place to give students an unforgettable experience of world class sport, and as well as seeing badminton's finest in action on court, they will have the chance to enjoy fun badminton, table tennis, squash and padel activities in the Fanzone.
School children will again be centre stage on the last day of competition on Sunday, Dec. 13, when they will compete in the finals of the Shuttle Time Dubai Schools Championships Finals at the Hamdan Sports Complex.