One for the album: Children from the Anbu Illam Home posing for a photograph with the organisers during a charity match.
PETALING JAYA: Charity matches involving badminton may be uncommon, but they are gaining traction, with the main aim of helping the less fortunate.
That is exactly what former national women’s doubles shuttler A. Hemalatha and her husband R. Vikneswara set out to do through their Golden Route Badminton Academy, in collaboration with MYS Engineering, which organised a charity match involving children from the Anbu Illam Home on Aug 3 in Petaling Jaya.
A total of 40 participants from the Anbu Illam Home, aged between eight and 17, took part in the event. What made it even more special was that they did not have to spend a single cent as the main aim was to celebrate them.
Two categories were contested in the charity match – boys’ doubles and girls’ doubles – with the participants also receiving guidance from experienced coaches from the Golden Route Badminton Academy.
For a good cause: Vickneswara (third from left) and his wife Hemalatha (third from right) were among the driving forces behind the charity badminton event with the Anbu Illam Home.
For Vikneswara, he and everyone behind the scenes were moved by the success of the event, as the original idea was to provide opportunities and support to underprivileged children through badminton.
“The idea came when one of my clients, who often organises charity work, asked if I knew of or had any ideas for a charity project. That gave me the idea to hold a badminton charity match,” said Vikneswara.
“To be honest, I had no experience in doing this before. Coincidentally, another client offered to sponsor food for all the participants.
“In the past, there were fewer opportunities like this. Even when there were, I couldn’t afford it. Training was also hard to come by, and I didn’t even have enough money for food.
“So when we were able to carry out this activity, it was one way for us to give our support to these children, and I was very impressed with the level of discipline they showed.
“They enjoyed the activities and had fun, and we could see the smiles and joy on their faces.”
For Hemalatha, the success of the event also fulfilled her dream of giving back to the community through the sport she loves – badminton.
“The charity badminton event was nothing short of magical. Seeing the pure joy on the faces of the boys and girls from the Illam, laughing, playing and feeling valued was the greatest success we could have asked for,” said Hemalatha.
The husband-and-wife duo also hope that activities like these will open the eyes of many, especially philanthropists who wish to help the underprivileged by using badminton as a platform.
“Now that we have organised such an activity, I am sure it will attract attention from more people out there, and we want to spread the word about it to an even wider audience,” added Vikneswara.
