Badminton Europe to partner Kawasaki Sports for Centre of Excellence

Badminton Europe and Kawasaki Sports Europe announced a cooperation deal to supply stringing machines and strings to BEC Centre of Excellence.

From press release.  Photo provided by Kawasaki Sports and Mark Phelan Photography.

Beginning a deal that will run until 2020, Kawasaki Sports Europe delivered a KES-830 stringing machine to Badminton Europe’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) along with a range of strings for all the CoE players to test and use.

“We see the Centre of Excellence as a perfect opportunity for us to support badminton in Europe,” Kawasaki Sports Europe CEO Jarle Grytten was quoted in the press release as saying.  “We are very proud to deliver this stringing machine which will help the players and remove one small worry from their daily routine.”

Badminton Europe General Secretary Brian Agerbak said: “We welcome Kawasaki Sports Europe into partnership with Badminton Europe and we are pleased with their support to our European Training Centre and to the players involved in this exciting project. This is hopefully the first step in an extended partnership and I must commend Kawasaki Sports Europe on their efficiency in getting this partnership off to a good start.”

Badminton Europe, the umbrella organisation for 52 national badminton federations in Europe, started up the BEC Centre of Excellence in Holbaek, Denmark, in September 2017.  It is a European high-performance training centre that takes aim at the medal spread in international badminton.  According to the website, “Badminton Europe wishes to empower talented players from member associations that do not have the capacity to cater sufficiently for their talented players and offer them high quality, sustainable training at a world class training setup.”

Kawasaki Sports Europe also signed a player sponsorship deal with Lilit Poghosyan (pictured top) of Armenia who is training at the Centre of Excellence.

“Lilit is one of those players who lives and breathes badminton. Like us she is driven to succeed and given her talent and goals we are thrilled to be able to support her for the next three years starting in January 2018,” Mark Phelan Brand Manager for Kawasaki Sports Europe says.

Kawasaki is a multi-sports brand with roots dating back to 1915, in Japan, and is now a major player across heavy industry, motorcycles, and now multi sports, including badminton, tennis, football, basketball, swimming and athletics.

For more information, read the full press release on the Badminton Europe website