You may recall reading the article “Traveller’s On Rushcliffe Arena Badminton Courts” back in March-April 2022? It was a story highlighting how a group of friends reunited and resumed playing cricket as a Friendly Sunday Cricket Team and how they expanded over to other sport like Badminton during Covid-19 when Cricket was banned! They have dedicated their first ever Badminton tournament as a memorial to one of their founder member Late Mr Devidas Porje.
This year the Traveller’s Sport Club, Nottingham continued their Annual Event of – “Late Shri Devidas Porje Memorial” – 2nd Annual Traveller’s Open Badminton Tournament 2023.
Rushcliffe Arena in West Bridgford is the ‘home’ venue where the club practices every Friday evenings and Sunday mornings. Meeting the demand of the ever-growing number of participants; Club’s organising committee had opted for the NTU Sports’ Badminton Hall where a viewing gallery is available for the spectators. A local business – Matthew’s Lettings and Services – had kindly sponsored the venue facility hire.
On 26 March 2023, there were total 53 participants who had played around 100 games of Badminton over a period of 8 hours in total. The categories included Men’s Singles, Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Men’s Doubles. Each team played all the competitors in their respective groups and the winners of the group played in the finals. The club members very efficiently and effectively volunteered to take on various roles as Match-Referee, Line Judge, Central Administrative Desk for a smooth operations and execution of the event.
The presentation party consisted of Cllr. Bal Bansal (Labour Party, Trent Ward, Rushcliffe Borough Council), Mr Amit Garg (Cllr Candidate for Conservative Party, Abbey Ward), Mr Bhavesh Jani of Nottingham Asian Arts Council, Mr Shailesh Thakrar (Technical Advisor, Traveller’s Sports Club) and a representative each from South Asian Community Organisation Gujarat Samaj of Nottingham and Nottingham Tamil Kuzhumum. All the participants were encouraged with a participation ‘gold’ medal. The Runners Up and Winners were deservingly rewarded by means of a trophy, especially for the ‘fireworks on courts with shuttlecocks’!!
During a pre-event promotional interview on Rangoli Radio, Club’s General Secretary and Tournament’s Event Director Mr Nimesh Christian had commented “Music and Sports are some of those rare platforms bringing the humans together. Traveller’s Sports Club is open to all who wish to become member(s). We are a friendly yet competitive club who play with the motto of ‘fitness with fun’”.
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year – Unsung Hero Award 2021 Regional Nominee– Mr Bhuvanesh Sankaran has been volunteering as a Cricket Coach for the club since year 2017 whilst Mr Nishit Patel is the volunteer Badminton Coach who trains the children for free every Sunday mornings at Rushcliffe Arena.
In a conversation with the Event Director, Cllr. Bal Bansal quoted “This is a unique scenario where the Non-Profit organisation is not only self-funding their own sporting activities but also investing into the community by providing free coaching”.
The badminton arm is now operating as Badminton Shuttle Stars.
For further information please reach out on the following WhatsApp numbers: 07879 845683 (Nimesh) or 07947 332409 (Nish).
