Badminton is a sport exported from India, originally it was called Poona, it adopted the name of the town where it was played. At that time, English officers observed this game with curiosity and decided to take it to Great Britain, where they regulated it, and thus expanded it to the world.
The sport began to be played in our country in private (English) residences or clubs in small circles, at the beginning of the 20th century. Back in the 1970s, the Youth Christian Association tried to promote the activity, but it did not take off.
You could say that Badminton is a kind of mix between tennis and volleyball. Here in Argentina it had a lot of impact in the recent Youth Olympic Games that were held in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
Mauro Churín and Diego Goycochea are two people from Pergamin who, little by little, try to impose the game, in the city and the region, based on sacrifice and tenacity.
“Diego and I started with this sport a year ago. I had already seen him, he practiced paddle tennis since he was a child, and Diego played tennis. We were inactive due to the pandemic, we watched the youth Olympics, and there we began to see if they were practicing in Pergamino, and we did not find anyone, neither here, nor in Rosario, anywhere nearby,” he indicated at the beginning of the talk with Diario Núcleo Mauro Churín. “So we started practicing it just the two of us, we got the Social Club, which met the conditions for having a large gym, with height, which is what is needed to play. From there we started going to tournaments in Buenos Aires, in Rojas, they invited us, also to a national meeting. Now they provided us with the Municipal Park to go to train. We couldn’t invite many people because there is no space, but by moving to the Park we will be able to set up three courts, there will be more space and hopefully people can join.”
This sport is divided into three sets, where points are counted one by one and you have to reach 21 to win the set, similar to volleyball. You can play singles, doubles and mixed.
“Here in Pergamino it is the two of us as adults, then they are all boys between 13 and 17 years old. The categories are sub 9, sub 11, sub 13, sub 15, sub 17 and sub 19. After the sub 19 comes the open, which is where we are playing now. Then come the plus 30, plus 40, plus 50, plus 60 in some tournaments. In September we played and reached the semifinals, those who beat us are people who have been playing since they were 10, 12 years old,” says Churín.
“This sport does not have many particularities. You have to buy light badminton rackets, you can play in any gym that has a certain height because you can generally give the feather, which is what you play with, enough height. Anyone can play it; The kids immediately get hooked because it is a sport that has a certain ease. At first, since we didn’t know how, we ran the field from here to there. Afterwards we started to watch games, to observe those who know how, they stand differently, they know how to position themselves on the court, and we understood the game. As in any sport you have to be moderately trained, physically fit. He has a lot of leg work because since it is a feather that has to be hit, and it is light, it can be played short and requires a lot of flexion,” Goycochea said. “The truth is, when we went to the first tournament in Buenos Aires they killed us, but we continued practicing, evolving and we started to improve. This year we played a tournament in the adult category and came out champions. With the passage of time we became competitive, we are at a good level, although we still need to play within the Free category. We are excited to continue improving, to play with young guys, who beat us up terribly, but they make us grow.”
“Thanks to this sport we have made many friends. People are in the same way as us, as there are few tournaments they want to participate, so wherever there is an event people come closer,” said Churín. “It is a very familiar sport, very inclusive, a lot of people can play it,” concluded Goycochea, for his part.
2024-03-24 21:07:01
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