Story by Raynald Ngwarati
ZIMBABWE’S national badminton team has departed for South Korea to participate in the 2025 Korea Masters Badminton World Championships, scheduled to run from November 4 to 9 in Iksan, Jeonbuk State.
The country’s flag is once again flying on the international stage as the Zimbabwe national badminton team departed for South Korea for the 2025 Korea Masters Badminton World Championships this Saturday.
The team’s participation is a reflection of the thick and thriving bilateral ties between the Zimbabwean government and their South Korean counterparts, particularly in the fields of sport, youth development, and cultural exchange.
Accompanying the four-member squad is the Deputy Minister of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Honourable Emily Jesaya, who says the government remains committed to supporting athletes across all disciplines.
“This collaboration is going to help us as a country to also benchmark our training skills, learning from countries that are already doing well in the sport. Also, going into the future, we intend to come back home and promote and support this sport in terms of its infrastructure, as well as having proper grass structures to ensure that we have this sport coming from the grassroots until we have athletes who represent the country at the international level,” she said.
From Harare to Iksan, Team Zimbabwe will be looking to make a strong impression at the Korea Masters.
“This is coming at a very good time for us because we were already preparing for competitions in Africa, the regional competitions in Zambia and Botswana. So this is going to be a huge boost for us. This is actually a more competitive South Korean Super 300 series that we are going to be participating in, and we are just going to be taking positives from here.
“It is a much more competitive environment than the regional competition. It came to us as a surprise, a great surprise arranged by the Sports Ministry, and it is a bilateral relationship with South Korea. It is a really positive thing for the country as well as for the sport, the two countries uniting to facilitate this. We are very excited about it,” Coach, Umeir Badr Siddiqui noted.
“The team have pushed so hard to prepare for this competition. It will increase our gameplay. So I think these players will be sort of like a benchmark for all of our players. And we are very ready to play. We have trained so hard, so yes, we will go and compete,” Captain, Paul Kopolo added.
The squad comprises some of the country’s finest badminton players, with female athlete Avishi Raina set to join the team en route via Malaysia.
