the Italian champion – Corriere.it is from Chiari

Towards the end of the last century, a handful of movement professors from Clarence considered the idea of ​​proposing to their pupils something different from the usual dogmas of physical education. Athletic and coordinative aspects could also have been found in disciplines such as tambourine, intercrosse, frisbee, unihockey, tchoukball. Like badminton. The experiment led to a sentence: rackets and shuttlecock thrilled like nothing else. In 1998 Gsa Chiari was born, a sports club that since 2005 has been affiliated with the Italian Badminton Federation. The sowing years are now bearing fruit.

Last weekend, the PalaBadminton in Milan hosted the Italian specialty championships, an event in which the City of Medieval Quadre was able to affix its recognizable signature. First of all in the team cup, dominated by Chiari, but also on an individual level, thanks to the performances of one of the boys of the Clarense brood that grew up around the 2000s: the new Italian singles champion, Giovanni Toti. «I became acquainted with this sport thanks to the president of the GSA, Massimo Merigo, who introduced us to middle school. It was quite natural to me right away, given my past as a little tennis player. After a couple of seasons I was noticed by the Federation and, when I was just fifteen, I moved to Milan signing for the Army, together with other athletes of the national team, including fellow countryman and best friend Enrico Baroni. It was a tough transition for a teenager, but it allowed me to intensify my training, think only of badminton and participate in international competitions: unforgettable team gold at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympics ».

Objectives of the present: to think on a larger scale: «In the three days of Italiani I experienced unique and contrasting emotions, from enthusiasm to anxiety. After losing to the advantages of the doubles tournament, I found myself one set down in the single final against my partner, Fabio Caponio. The support of the GSA and that of the friends of the Milanese gym Francis Boxing Team (boxing is my second passion) made the difference. This victory gives me confidence. Italian badminton is at a level still far from that of the best countries in the world, from Denmark to China; my dream is to become a recognized top player, to be able to enter the most important tables of the world tour and challenge the champions that at the moment I can only watch on TV ».

The national movement can count on the same weapons glimpsed in Giovanni’s story: potential permeability in schools; support from the Federation and Coni; the city of Chiari, which thanks to prof. Merigo and al Gsa has become a territorial reference point. But also on its identity characteristics: «There are speed and strength, elegance and dynamism, feints and imaginative strokes. With the racket in hand I feel free to express myself ».