By JARROD POTTER
SHUTTLECOCKS will fly at Cardinia Life as the Elite Badminton Club opens the doors on its first major tournament.
Club founders Suchet Mehta and Mayur Meshram wanted to make their sport of choice – badminton – more accessible in the local community.
Meshram emigrated from Hyderabad, India in 2006 and was a collegiate and state-level player whose love of badminton travelled with him to Australia.
“I’m originally from India and I’ve been playing badminton since I was 10,” Meshram said.
“I represented state tournaments and all-university tournaments when I was young and that’s basically where the passion comes from.”
A longing for more badminton action in Australia inspired Meshram and the other founding members to start the club up and get Pakenham and surrounds interested.
“Some of us we started to play badminton together here a while ago, it was mid-last year and we actually started with a bunch of guys – four or five – who were quite regular,” Meshram said.
“We went to the YMCA… we wanted a place where people could join in… people who are passionate for the sport and want to improve their skills as well.
“So we thought why not start a club for ourselves for the talent in the community to come up and showcase their skills.”
Players from as far as Hampton Park, Berwick and further have shown interest in joining the club – with a local badminton organisation in great demand across the south-east suburbs.
The club hopes to get its players up to the top tier and play in state championships and national tournaments, but in the meantime Meshram wants the local community to get involved and try out the fast-paced sport.
“Our primary goal is to encourage the local community to come out and spend some time improving their skills and helping the club grow in numbers,” Meshram said.
Registrations for their long weekend tournament at Cardinia Life close tomorrow (5 June).
The Open Badminton Tournament – with men’s singles, doubles, women’s singles and mixed doubles categories – runs from 7-8 June.
For more information on the tournament or the club itself, contact the Elite Badminton Club on elitebaddyclub@gmail.com.
