The fourth edition of the South-South Under-13 Badminton Tournament has commenced in Asaba, Delta State, with the Chairman of the Delta State Badminton Association and South-South Representative on the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Felix Awala Tangbe, reaffirming his commitment to grassroots development of the sport in the region.

The tournament, which brings together young badminton players across the South-South region, is designed to identify and nurture talents from an early age while providing children and teenagers with a productive sporting pathway alongside their formal education.

Speaking on the commencement of the competition, Tangbe said the initiative was targeted at “catching them very young” and giving young people meaningful opportunities to develop their talents and build a future through sports.

According to him, the fourth edition was expected to feature participation from all six South-South states, but only three teams were able to make it to the tournament due to financial and logistical constraints.

He listed the participating teams as Delta State, Edo State and the NNPC Badminton Club from Warri, while Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa States could not participate.

Tangbe disclosed that he was personally financing the tournament because of the difficulty in securing sponsorship, stressing that although government had an important role to play in sports development, it could not shoulder every responsibility.

He said, “Currently, it is self-sponsored. I’m taking my time to self-sponsor it because we’re not getting sponsors from anywhere. You all know the situation of things. Governments cannot really do everything. Even if they need to do a little bit of it, we know the situation of things. But currently, I am self-sponsoring.”

The badminton administrator explained that his decision to continue funding the competition was driven largely by his passion for the sport and his desire to provide opportunities for young athletes.

“I am a badminton player. I played badminton from the beginning and it’s a game that I love. So it’s a passion,” he said.

Tangbe added that the growing number of children participating in badminton in Delta State had also encouraged him to sustain the tournament.

“Seeing the children, I come to Asaba once in a while and see the children, the crowd of children here, it gives me motivation that we have future badminton players in this state,” he said.

He expressed particular satisfaction that the grassroots programme had already produced a player who progressed to the national team, describing the development as evidence that sustained investment in youth competitions could produce athletes capable of representing Nigeria at the highest level.

“I am elated. I’m happy. Currently, we have a player in the national team, a female player that started from the Under-13 here,” he stated.

Tangbe noted that while several badminton competitions were organised in the state and region, the Under-13 South-South tournament was specifically designed as a long-term talent-identification platform and had now reached its fourth edition.

He further disclosed that more than N4 million would be spent on the current edition, covering medals, trophies, gift items, officials’ fees and other organisational expenses.

According to him, the prizes for the young athletes would not be presented as cash because the Badminton Federation of Nigeria and the Badminton World Federation (BWF) had advised that age-group competitions should focus on sporting equipment and other motivational gifts rather than cash rewards.

He said the prizes would include badminton rackets, shuttlecocks, canvas shoes and other sporting items that could encourage the young players to remain committed to the sport.

“It is over four million, because the medals and the trophies were imported. The gift items, because ordinarily before now we do cash items, but the Federation and the BWF said for age-group tournaments, no cash prize.

“It has to be gift items — rackets, shuttles, canvas — things to motivate them to continue to play. So that’s what they’ll be getting. In all, over four million Naira will be spent, including officials’ fees and everything,” he said.