Badminton equipment major Yonex renewed its partnership with Dubai World Superseries Finals on Saturday, with the sport’s premier brand announcing its sponsorship of the tour’s prestigious event for a further two years.
Yonex will be the official equipment and apparel supplier of the season-ending tournament for 2016 and 2017, as well as an official partner of Shuttle Time Dubai, the Dubai branch of BWF’s community initiative which aims to support the growth of badminton in schools.
Commenting on the agreement, His Excellency Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council and Chairman of the event organising committee, said: “Yonex have been a valuable partner since the inaugural event in 2014 and our continued association will not only contribute to the growth of the tournament, but also help raise its profile among audiences around the world.
“We share Yonex’s commitment to badminton, fitness and healthy living and are particularly pleased to have their support in developing the game at a grassroots level through Shuttle Time Dubai.”
‘Giving Every Child a Chance to Play’ is the aim of Shuttle Time Dubai and to date it has engaged over 60 schools and 5000 children in Dubai, as well as training and accrediting over 130 of the emirate’s teachers as official programme coaches.
As part of its commitment to the community initiative run by BWF in conjunction with Dubai Sports Council and Falcon and Associates, Yonex will supply branded kit – including hundreds of badminton rackets and thousands of shuttlecocks, as well as a range of state-of-the-art apparel and training equipment. Shuttle Time Dubai also provides thousands of players with the opportunity to play badminton indoors during the hot summer months at Dubai Sports World, a 20,000 sq mtr air-conditioned facility at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
Speaking at a press conference at the 2016 Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, UK, Kusaki Hayashida, President of Yonex, said: “We are honoured to maintain such a strong bond with one of the biggest badminton tournaments in the world. The tournament organisers have continued to go the extra mile towards making our partnership a success, and for that I am extremely grateful. As we mark 70 years since the founding of Yonex we continually strive to provide nothing short of excellence to our customers around the world and it is our duty to spread the joy of sport by establishing an even stronger position within the global sporting industry.
“Our partnership with Dubai World Superseries Finals, Dubai Sports Council and Falcon and Associates is not just limited to providing equipment to the tournament – we will also be providing equipment for Dubai’s Shuttle Time programme – supporting the further global development of badminton.”
The Dubai World Superseries Finals, staged annually at the multi-purpose Hamdan Sports Complex in December, is the culmination of 12 qualifying tournaments held worldwide over the course of the year, with the top eight ranked players in each category (men’s and women’s singles and doubles, and mixed doubles) invited to compete for a $1 million prize fund – the largest purse on the BWF calendar.
Captions:
Featured image: Sir Hugh Robertson, Executive Director, Falcon and Associates and Kusaki Hayashida, President, Yonex Co. Ltd pen agreement at an official press conference to renew the Yonex partnership with Dubai World Superseries Finals for 2016-2017.
Picture 2: Representatives at the press conference to announce the renewal of the Yonex partnership with Dubai World Superseries Finals 2016-2017. (From left to right: Sir Hugh Robertson, Executive Director, Falcon and Associates; Poul-Erik Høyer, BWF President; Kusaki Hayashida, President, Yonex Co. Ltd; Shuichi Yoneyama, Managing Director and Managing Executive Officer at Yonex Co. Ltd.; Paul Jepson, Managing Director Yonex UK.)
Picture 3: Last year’s Dubai World Superseries Finals Women’s Singles champion Nozomi Okuhara.
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