ISSAG Schools Badminton Championship inspires the next generation of athletes
ISSAG Schools Badminton Championship inspires the next generation of athletes
By Ghana Badminton Media & Rihana Adam, GNA
Accra, 21st October: Seventy-four students of 18 teams from Nine International Schools participated in this year's International School Sports Association of Ghana's (ISSAG) Badminton Competition at the SOS Hermann Gmeiner College in Tema. The one-day event occurred on Saturday, 19th October 2024, with Ghana International School (GIS) boys emerging winners of the Boys Badminton team event and the Roman Ridge School emerging winners of the Girls Badminton Team Event for 2024 International School Sports Association Games (ISSAG) competition.
The essence of school competitions gives students an edge in applications for scholarships, student programs, and other essential activities. Players from these international schools need to prove they've got the proper knowledge, skill set, and personality—offering a wholesome benefit from the National governing body of the sport.
All the players showed that they're not just high achievers but driven young people who constantly look for opportunities to stretch and challenge themselves, as the fierce competition gave rise to the occasion of a competition, making an excellent way for the players to identify the strengths and skills that may otherwise fly under the radar in the regular day-to-day of the classroom- whose competition medal was the catalyst for a journey from classroom detentions to developing a world-changing sport of Badminton.
There was lots of fantastic play throughout the day, and it was great to see our players put all their training into action. There were some challenging games, and all school teams showed resilience and determination.
"As we look ahead to the 2025 season of Ghana Badminton hosting the 2025 African Schools Championships and the African U15 Championship, together with JE Wilson Ghana International Jnrs-we reflect on the importance of the legacy of some of these athletes representing their schools through this coveted event, and not only did we want to ensure the pupils were at the heart of the action on the court, but we also used innovative ways to use their skills outside of the SOS Badminton hall, bringing parents, school faculty and the general public to witness Badminton at the Highist of international school participation-These values are the heartbeat of what we at Ghana Badminton aim to do every day in enabling Badminton to be a sport for everyone" Shared by Jessica Lomotey- Events & Competitions Officer, Ghana Badminton
In the boy's team event category, Ghana International School came first, followed by SOS Herman College as first runner-up, and International Community School became 2nd Runner-up.
In the Girls' team Event, Roman Ridge came first, followed by Ghana International School as the first Runner-up and Tema International School as the second runner-up.
Miss Eliana Owusu Afriyie from the Tema International School won the best player for girls category, and Lai Yi Yang from Ghana International School won the best player for Boys event category.
Mr Ken Kenneth, ISSAG Co-ordinator, shared, "The development of our International school's sports has taken the lead year on year, and our collaboration with Ghana Badminton over the years has been great; Badminton's pedestal has been welcoming and fits within our strategic development of the sport. This is a massive organisation and setting, and we are happy every school enjoyed it."
Schools that participated in the 2024 ISSAG Badminton Competition were SOS Hermann Gmeiner International School, Tema International School, The Roman Ridge School, Akosombo International School, East Airport International School, Faith Montessori School, Ghana International School, International Community School, Morgan International Community School
Podium winners received trophies, participation medals, and other participatory invitations for national competitions this December 2024 and the 2025 Africa Schools Championship, which will be hosted in Ghana.
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Evans Yeboah, President of Ghana Badminton, added: “In line with our Mission 2027 Strategic Plan, we are excited about this redesigned platform because it is an integral part of our strategy to hone the popularity of our members and shared interest groups, raise the profile of our partner’s networks and increase their membership. We are excited that, once again, we are providing the lead and leadership for many African sporting national federations to emulate whilst being aware of this fantastic resource, access, and the opportunities enhancement within our integrated marketing communication in this digital age has to offer.”
The programme graduated 273 Physical Education Teachers from 198 Schools nationwide in 2017, mastering a whopping coverage of schools nationwide. The current Board launched the second phase of the Mission 2025 Plan in 2022, focussing on sustaining and building long-term growth is getting schools to embrace badminton.
Ghana Badminton, President shares, “We are enthralled by our enhanced development initiatives across technical and coaching education spanning from a school’s project we implemented promoting a thriving sporting system of inspiring positive change thus creating most tremendous decade success of extraordinary sporting achievement by the end of 2027.
In 2019, Cindy Etornam Tornyenyor continued and represented the Greater Accra Region at the National Schools and Colleges, Bolgatanga sports and achieved podium results. Tornyenyor laments her best role model is to be in the World’s top 50 ranked players by 2027 from now and make Ghana Badminton proud again in the Women’s Single and Women’s Double events.
Nantuo Prospera celebrates a point at the African Championship