KUWAIT CITY, April 17: A new badminton organization appeared on Kuwait’s horizon Friday morning with the inauguration of the Indian Bad-minton Association - Kuwait (IBAK) at the Qadsiya Club.
The inauguration was a simple yet well-organized event attended by a large number of Indian badminton players, guests and the Indian Ambassador to Kuwait Ajay Malhotra as the chief guest.
The event started with the inauguration of the traditional lamp by the Indian Ambassador, assisted by Uma Maheshwari, Annie Thomas and Surraiya Foizen followed by a welcome address by Induja, the executive associate of the Public Relations Committee of IBAK.
Induja started her address by welcoming everyone to the event and urging the badminton players to register themselves for the tournaments which will be starting next Friday. She then thanked all those present for participation with special thanks going to sponsors of the event UAE Exchange.

She then introduced the president of IBAK, Dr Manimara Chozhanan - who is popularly known in the badminton and Indian circles as Dr Mani.She said that Dr Mani was the inspiration behind the organization. Dr Mani is an orthopedic surgeon and an excellent badminton player who confesses to the fact that he would have become a professional player had he not taken up the medical profession.
Dr Mani then took the rostrum and dwelt at length on the founding of the organization, starting with a membership of just six on March 7, 2010 and climbing to over 150 within five weeks.
Mani also told the audience that IBAK had already been recognized and registered by the Indian Embassy in Kuwait. He expressed his wish to see IBAK emerge as a single umbrella to support the needs of the badminton-loving community in Kuwait. He also said that measures have been instituted to register IBAK for affiliation with other world bodies and various Indian badminton bodies.
Dr Mani, who has been participating regularly in tournaments on the Kuwait badminton circle and doing quite well, especially in the tournaments arranged by various Filipino badminton organizations where he is a very recognizable player, said that IBAK aims at creating new champions who not only go on to represent IBAK in various tournaments but also their country with pride and distinction.
The IBAK president was all praise for his team who had managed to build IBAK within a few weeks .He also voiced sincere thanks to UAE Exchange for their sponsorship of the event.
Ambassador Malhotra offered the embassy’s full support to IBAK and hoped that the organization would be a platform for the development of more opportunities for more people to enjoy the sport. He added that IBAK would be a starting point for the same. He wished the organization well and promised that the Office of the Ambassador would be a Patron Member and support the cause of IBAK. He also dwelt with his association with various kinds of sports and how sports help build people into better human beings. He praised the office-bearers and organizers of the event for the effort they had put in to set up IBAK.
IBAK office-bearers were then introduced to the audience by the General Secretary of the association Thomas T. Moolayil, who also addressed the gathering and confessed that he has always been passionate about badminton and also associated with badminton organizations in India like the Trivandrum Club.
The office-bearers of IBAK are as follows:
President: Dr Manimara Chozhan
General Secretary: Thomas Moolayil
Secretaries: Mathew Jacob (membership), Sunil Moorkanat (public relations),Puskaraj Altekar (event management), Faheem Contractor (media) and Chandra Mouli (courts and coaching).
Joint Secretaries: Anil Lakhotia (membership) and Tabish Babu (courts and coaching)
Executive Associate members: Hari Gadikota, Induja, Jimmy Jose Aricat, Mohammed Sirajudeen, Mohammed Arief, Noor Kalamata, Prasad Thandachery, Amit Balakrishan, Gopalkrishnan and Remy John Gracias.
Wing Commander Nanda Kumar was then asked to propose the Vote of Thanks and name the winner of the Motto Competition. The winning motto, taken up by the organization, is “Inspire, Train, Achieve,” with its author being Gopalkrishnan - an office-bearer of IBAK.
Kumar thanked all those who had put in their best for the creation of the organization and all the members of the organization for joining IBAK at its infant stage to help ensure its success. He was all praise for the team work that had been exhibited by all those who helped in creation of IBAK. He then went on to thank various office-bearers individually for the “sleepless nights” that they put in to set up the proper infrastructure of the organization.
Kumar reserved special praise for the president of IBAK, Dr Mani, who had shown a lot of drive and led from the front as his team went about setting up the organization.
At the end of the event, the ambassador and the crowd witnessed an exhibition match arranged by committee members Mathews, Chandramoulli, Pushkaraj and Dr Mani.
IBAK also held a one-day tournament for the members who were present with the tandem of Suresh and Bader winning the team event. Keeping a close eye on the proceedings and ensuring that everything went smoothly was tournament director Tibish Babu.

The tournament proper starts from next Friday and with over 150 members already enrolled, including some class players, the organizers pledge to offer some exciting badminton games over the coming weeks.
It’s after nearly two decades that an Indian organization is offering badminton on such a large scale. The only organization which used to conduct such tournaments was the Indian Arts Circle Badminton Club, nearly 20 years ago. Some of the badminton players who took part in those prestigious tournaments are still around in Kuwait and are sometimes seen taking to the courts in various tournaments despite their age - and in many cases their knees - don’t allow them to play with the same vigour they used to display “once upon a time”.
IBAK offers premium associate, and affiliated memberships and to recognize and support the needs of badminton lovers of other nationalities, guest membership is also on the menu.
For those who wish to be associated with IBAK, send an e-mail to ibakwt@yahoo. com. The URL for the group is http:// sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/abakwt