Thursday, January 15, 2009 Badminton suffers slide due to high gym rentals
HIGH badminton court rental rates and shuttlecock prices have been identified as the main reasons behind the lack of badminton tournaments in Davao City.
No less than Philippine Badminton Association (PBA) regional director Rizza Quicoy aired this sentiment during the regular Davao City Sports Council Inc. (DCSCI) meeting Tuesday night at Dencia's Restaurant.
"Badminton really took a slide. We haven't had much participation in the city government-sponsored sportsfest for quite some time now since we could not afford to shoulder gym rentals and buy shuttle cocks," Quicoy said.
She said the City Government would just shoulder management fees of their tournaments and no longer pay for the gym rentals or provide shuttlecocks unlike the previous arrangement when the city provided a gym and shuttlecocks.
"It's very difficult to organize a badminton tournament nowadays with gym rates getting higher and shuttle cocks getting expensive. We really want to request the city to shoulder the gym rentals and shuttlecocks because these two take a huge slice of the budget. Our budget proposals in the past have been rejected because of these two inclusions," Quicoy explained.
DCSCI vice president Joaquin "Boy" Sarabia suggested holding badminton tournaments in school gyms instead but Quicoy said it's not possible.
"The players would say they might get injured if they play on cemented flooring. Others would say the cash prizes won't even cover hospital expenses if they get injured. They prefer playing on rubberized courts," Quicoy said.
Sarabia observed badminton gym rates increased when the sport became a trend in the city.
Quicoy said she hopes badminton will be included in the Araw ng Dabaw, Kadayawan, Summer League and Pahalipay sa Pasko rosters of events just like in the past when gym rates were still affordable. (MLSA)
