UAE athletes say they want to “open up minds” as they make history as the first team from the Emirates to participate in a world para badminton championship.
Emiratis Jamal Al Bedwawi, 37, and Siham Al Rushaidi, 42, are ranked among the world’s top 20 athletes in the singles wheelchair competition and are keen to spread the word to young people with disabilities that sport keeps them strong.
Along with UAE resident Omair Muhammad, 28, the three will compete in the West Asia Para Games in Oman on February 1 before heading to the Bahrain 2026 World Para Badminton Championships from February 8.
Al Bedwawi, ranked No 18, wants to change mindsets while playing a game he loves.
“I’m very excited. We want to win medals but we need more people, new players to come play with us,” he told The National during a training session at the Dubai Club for People of Determination.
“People ask me, ‘You sit in a wheelchair, why do you play badminton?’ I say that I play badminton because I can. I say come and see us. I need to open the minds of all people, they need to see us play.”
Special skills
An accident in 2012 damaged Al Bedwawi’s spinal cord and left him wheelchair-bound, but it did not break his spirit. Recovering after surgery in a hospital in Germany, he watched people in wheelchairs play basketball and was hooked.
“It was amazing, I had not seen men and women in wheelchairs play basketball before. I asked God after my accident – what did he want me to do? Then later, I understood – I need to push, play sport, my body needs to move. Now I can do everything, I drive a car alone, I go to the mountains, I skydive.”
The athletes have competed in international para badminton competitions, but this is the first time the UAE has qualified for the Para Badminton World Games. They took up badminton a few years ago after winning medals in sports including basketball, javelin and discus.
Athletes who compete in para games may have various disabilities that include impaired muscle power, vision impairment, spinal injury or loss of a limb. Competitions are divided into several events based on the type and degree of impairment.
In wheelchairs, the UAE athletes manoeuvre with one hand on the wheel as they use the other to scoop, hit drop shots and smash the shuttlecock. They skid, race and brake to reach the shuttle as it comes hurtling down.
The coach encourages them and corrects some strokes. “Use your body weight not only hand power, use your body strength when you hit,” said Aditya Singh, coach of the UAE para badminton team.
Special skills must be developed to play at the competitive level, requiring not only strength but also hand-eye co-ordination, he said.
“Unless you sit in that chair, you cannot realise how challenging this is. When you are playing in a wheelchair, your upper body, especially the back, and arms should be very strong,” Mr Singh said.
“For able-bodied badminton players, it’s an unconscious movement, they move and follow the shuttle. But when you're playing in the wheelchair, you have to move the chair and also play, judge where the shuttle will fall and stop the wheelchair in time.”
Eyes on the shuttle
Al Rushaidi, ranked No 17 in the world, is a veteran para athlete who has won about 600 medals in international, national, regional and Asian contests over two decades.
She contracted polio at four months old and this restricted her movement, but support from her family and the Dubai Club has seen her soar. She placed sixth in the discus throw and eighth in javelin at the 2012 London Paralympics and sixth in discus in the 2016 Brazil Paralympic Games.
Taking up badminton was a game-changer for the athlete.
“You must first control the wheelchair. And all the time your mind works on how to get more points,” she said. “I forget all my problems, I focus only on the shuttle, how I can reach it and how I can win.”
Her message to young girls with disabilities is to take up any sport.
“I don’t say sport is easy, no, you need to work hard. It’s like life, you must keep trying. We need more girls to play sports, it does not have to be badminton, it can be any sport. Instead of sitting in the house, they can come try sports.”
She says her son Abdullah, 18, makes sure people look past the wheelchair. “When people tell him, ‘Your mother has a problem with her legs, he says, ‘My mother is a champion, my mother brings medals for the UAE.”
Muhammad, ranked No 21, exudes confidence, and says badminton energises him.
A tumour detected on his spinal cord caused irreparable damage to the nerves at age six and left him in a wheelchair.
“From 11 years old, I have tried different sports at the Dubai Club. I enjoy basketball because it’s such a physical sport, takes so much energy and technical skill. It gives you motivation, discipline, confidence in life and helps psychologically,” said the athlete earlier in the UAE wheelchair basketball team.
“Our target is to go to the world games, give our best, learn as much as we can to propel ourselves to the Asian Games and next Paralympic Games,” he said.
“There is pride to represent the UAE. It's about creating history, reaching the top, achieving for the nation and for your family.”
