The Solomon Islands enter as the sixteenth country to join as a member in Oceania, alongside Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia (Tahiti), Guam, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia (associate member), New Zealand, Northern Marianas (associate member), Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu. There are now 16 member countries in Oceania contributing to the badminton ideal, bringing more opportunities across grassroots, development and elite level.
This now brings the Badminton World Federation (BWF) member total to 191 countries, including seven associate members.
The President of the Solomon Islands National Badminton Federation, Charles Meke, says "This is a big leap for Solomon Islands badminton, thanks to Badminton Oceania, the SINBF executive, Roseanne and the Chinese Community for all of your support to make this happen. We will be meeting in January to plan for 2019"
Solomon Islands National Badminton Federation youth player, Berni Guan, says "This is a thrilling opportunity. When we were younger we used to crave for an opportunity to play badminton, now it is finally here, I don’t want to miss out, I'm going to be training 100%. My younger brother Brandon will be 17 this year, he has the potential to become a very good player."
Badminton Oceania looks forward to implementing BWF Shuttle Time programmes in the country later in the year and seeing their team compete in the Samoa 2019 Pacific Games.
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