The chairman of FCT Badminton Association, Mohammed Bappa, has pledged to fast-track the growth of the sport in FCT through robust grassroots development tournaments.

He made the pledge on Sunday during the medals presentation at the ongoing 2024 National Sports Festival (NSF) in Ogun, where FCT won medals in badminton and para badminton.

“I want to commend the FCT badminton players for their resilience, we have so far won gold in the para event and bronze in mixed doubles.

“We are still expecting more medals in different categories,” he said.

Mr Bappa said that the FCT has been able to discover more talents that will be nurtured to stardom going forward.

“In these games, we have discovered more talents and even in the FCT we have organised many programmes where all these young boys and girls will be taken out of the streets to play badminton,” he said.

The chairman disclosed that plans have been concluded to begin the Area Councils Badminton Championship to consolidate on the achievements of the NSF and discover more budding talents.

“We have started preparations for the championship before the NSF, it  was only the festival that slowed us down.

“After the NSF we are going to finalise plans for the area council game,” he added.

Mr Bappa said that the association has written to the FCT minister, Nyesome Wike, on the need to support sports, especially badminton, and was confident of getting a favourable response.

 (NAN)