The Special Olympics EXPO 2020 Unified AirBadminton Tournament 2021 was held in the Sports, Fitness and Well Being Hub of the most spectaculor event currently in Dubai, EXPO 2020 on the 9th October 2021 from 7 PM to 10 PM.
The tournament had a widespread interest from Special Olympics UAE with 5 Clubs and 28 players that included 8 females and 6 male special athletes. Their unified partners included technical officials, volunteers, Emirati athletes and top junior players in UAE.
The event was structured to have more inclusion and opportunities alligned with the theme of Special Olympics and EXPO 2020. In the Womens unified Event, Ms. Zalika Ghareeb Al Mansoori (SO UAE) had been enthralled to win with her Unified Partner, Ms Madhumita Sundarapandian. In the Male Unified Doubles event, Hassan Ali (SO UAE) paired with his Unified Partner, Adarsh Bhadoria to win without conceding one game.
The Sports, Fitness and Well Being Hub was well setup from 7 PM with 3 AirBadminton courts, spectaculor lighting, live screen displays and interactive sound system. The atheletes, coaches and the other support staff also had experienced fitness workouts, fun games and site seeing with EXPO 2020.
To top it all, the venue was blessed with the presence of Talal Al Hashemi, National Director of Special Olympics, Mr. Jaffer Ebrahim, BWF Dubai Badminton Development Manager and Mr. Amr Badawi, Head of Sports and Training who were there through out to support the talented atheletes and suitably award them in the presentation ceremony.
