Photo by Tilo Wiedensohler/Tilo Wiedensohler/camera4
This year, the Badminton World Federation is celebrating World Badminton Day with the theme of “Raise A Racquet—Play, Learn, Celebrate!” and Special Olympics is joining in. With over 137,000 Special Olympics badminton players and 300 million total participants worldwide, badminton is making a huge impact on the field of sport.
Special Olympics badminton players compete in badminton all over the world while learning new techniques, skills, and tactics to succeed both on and off the court—today, Special Olympics celebrates all its badminton athletes.
One Region in particular who has excelled in its growth of badminton is the Special Olympics Latin America (SOLA) Region. Between 2023 and 2024, SOLA saw a rise of from 2,137 to 3,668 badminton athletes across its region—a 71.6% increase. For Unified partners, people with and without intellectual disabilities competing together, there was a jump of +166.5% as the number of Unified partners rose to 733 in 2024 from 275 in 2023.
In 2023 the Special Olympics World Games were held in Berlin, Germany that saw over 7,000 athletes compete in 32 sports across Germany’s capital city. At these Berlin Games, more than 200 badminton athletes and Unified partners from around the world, many of which were from Latin America, competed against one another—some for the first time in an international competition. After this event, SOLA, and other Special Olympics Regions saw rises in participation in their badminton programs.
“With such collaborative efforts between the global badminton community and global Special Olympics community, we’re continuing to see growth in numbers but also an improvement in the overall quality of how the sport is being delivered. Competitions are improving, coaches are getting stronger, and more athletes and Unified partners are joining the sport and improving their badminton skills.”
Maggie Brennan, Special Olympics Senior Manager of Sport Development and Sport Partnerships
The following year, SOLA hosted the Special Olympics Latin American Games in Asunción, Paraguay in 2024 where badminton was featured for the first time as a sport with 70 badminton athletes competing. The SOLA Games Asunción 2024 were the largest inclusive sporting event in the region that year, and it saw badminton players with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities compete against and alongside one another.
Photo by Nevin Baker
The increased opportunities to compete in badminton for athletes in the Latin America Region put a higher demand for coaches as well. SOLA now has 258 Certified Coaches, +50.9%, as of 2024 in the region.
With badminton on the rise in SOLA and the next Special Olympics World Games being held in Santiago, Chile in 2027, badminton will be a highly competitive sport for athletes to compete in and a must-see event for spectators. John Shearer, BWF’s Head of Continental Development shared, “It is fantastic to observe continued increase in numbers of Special Olympics badminton athletes training and competing in badminton globally.
“Strong partnerships at regional, and national levels are providing more opportunities than ever before for Special Olympics athletes to pick up a racket and enjoy badminton; and this is particularly true in the Latin America region where Badminton Pan American and Special Olympic Latin America have worked together on a number of initiatives, including the 2024 SOLA Games. We encourage all our National Badminton Federations globally to partner with the Special Olympics National Programs, to begin to prepare athletes for the next World Games in Santiago.”
Over the past three decades, Special Olympics has expanded its badminton programming globally. It is now offered as a sport in all seven Special Olympics Regions and classified as an official sport of Special Olympics World Games. Gallagher, the official partner of Special Olympics Sport and Coach programming, has been supporting this growth steadily with grant funding given directly to Special Olympics programs to grow the sport.
Photo by Sergio Vila
Seeing the success of the Berlin Games and inclusive badminton, Gallagher helped sponsor the Special Olympics Winter World Games Turin 2025 which saw more than 1,000 coaches coaching 1,500 athletes who competed in 8 sports in the Dolomites over 7 days. Gallagher will also be sponsoring the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games and the 2027 Special Olympics Summer World Games.
A Unified badminton pair from SOLA, Aline and Thanya, have been competing in the sport for nearly three years together and they don’t have any plan of stopping soon.
Thanya, a Special Olympics Paraguay badminton player, has been training in badminton ever since her school’s physical education teacher introduced the sport to her. At first, she had to learn the basic skills and techniques of the sport, but with consistent training, she got the hang of it. “Little by little, I learned how to do it. Now I train every morning.”, shared Thanya.
Thanya loves the fast pace of the sport, “When I play, I feel like the Flash, moving fast, reacting quickly and giving all my energy on the court.” She uses this speed every time she steps on the court for training and matches and feels a sense of pride in herself because she knows each time she plays, she gives it her all.
When sharing her journey playing badminton, Thanya gave insight into her relationship with her Unified Partner, Aline, “I love having Aline with me on the court. She helps me feel motivated and confident. She reminds me to believe in myself.”
Aline spoke to their relationship and stated she is continuously inspired by Thanya’s commitment to badminton. She detailed Thanya’s training as a very demanding regime and that Thanya is equally demanding on herself—she trains hard every day of the week, no off days. Thanya’s motivation and drive helps push Aline to train harder and know that she can always do better.
The Paraguayan duo credits their coach for their shared success with Thanya stating, “My coach not only taught me how to play badminton, but also how to be a better person. He always pushes me to keep growing, and that means a lot to me.” With Aline adding, “He has always been patient, taught us the essentials, and brings the best energy to every training session.” Their coach has helped them train for not only local competitions, but also bigger events like Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023 and Special Olympics Latin American Games Asunción 2024.
Their shared commitment to getting the best out of one another as individuals and as athletes is a testament to their love of badminton. As a highly competitive sport in SOLA, badminton will only become more competitive and have more ability levels with lower entry barriers with partners like Aline and Thanya paving the way for other athletes to take part as well.
