ClearOne is pleased to announce the opening of our Youth Academy at the Capilano University.

The Academy will run on Sundays between 12pm-3pm in the Capilano Sportplex and will be coached by members of ClearOne’s International Staff.

“After the success of our Capilano team and the interest in our recent exhibition on the North Shore, we believe that the sport is about to experience a revival,” said Darryl Yung, CEO and Founder of ClearOne Badminton.

The ClearOne Youth Academy will begin on January 10th, 2010 and is one of the many expansion projects within the ClearOne system.

“Our goal is to grown badminton in all areas of the city and the North Shore has been neglected for so many years,” quotes Bobby Milroy, ClearOne President. “We are counting on the community support and we will deliver a world-class program.”

The program will also be joined by recipients of the ClearOne Innercity Youth Scholarships, given to talented athletes who have been unable to afford the fees.

For more information on the ClearOne programs at Capilano click here

The Hindustan Times is reporting that Saina Nehwal, India’s badminton sensastion has spoken out about the lack of training options in India.

The Hindustan Times reports that “Saina Nehwal’s presence always brings hype and glitz to a badminton event, and she seems to enjoy it.

But, here in Lucknow for the Syed Modi International Grand Prix tournament, the World No. 7 is keeping herself focussed on the task at hand and working on a new plan to improve her game. Saina’s attention now is on improving her defence as it has let her down a number of times at the international level.

“Though I am good at the nets, I sometimes feel my defence is weak,’’ Saina told Hindustan Times after finishing her workout with fellow shuttler P. Kashyap on Tuesday.

“The 2010 Commonwealth Games now tops my agenda, although I have also set other goals like doing well in the Asian Games (at Guangzhou) and the (2012) Olympic Games. I know I have to work hard and also guard against injuries,” she added.

“I have to overcome my weaknesses as the next few years are very important,” said Saina, the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament this year.

Appreciating the support she has received from the masses, Saina said that it was a good sign as corporate houses and government were lending support to badminton players.

She, however, emphasised the need for establishing badminton academies in the north much like the centres in Hyderabad and Bangalore.

“Northern India has good talent but there is no proper training centre for badminton, tennis and table tennis.”

The only Indian woman to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Olympic Games, Saina’s advise to the young generation is to take up badminton seriously.”

The Global times reports that China’s Lin Dan was stunned by little-known South Korean Choi Ho-jin in the badminton final at the fifth East Asian Games in Hong Kong Sunday, but the world No. 2 blamed his tight schedule throughout the year for this rare defeat.

“It’s hard to play every single tournament during the year,” complained “Super Dan.”

“I played in the National Games, the international events and now it’s the East Asian Games. Even so, I still have to play for my club afterward. I traveled a lot all over (during) the year and haven’t trained regularly for quite a while. I’m so tired,” he added.

Though feeling sorry that Lin failed to claim gold, Chinese badminton fans expressed their understanding to what Lin had said.

“It’s no big deal (losing). I can see he’s too exhausted after playing a lot of games. Just let him take a break,” said an anonymous fan on sohu.com.

Lin’s defeat in 41 minutes shocked a Hong Kong crowd that had fully expected China’s top male player to take the gold medal with ease

The Malaysia Star newspaper has boldly predicted a medal sweep for rival indonesia in the upcoming Asian Sea Games.

“INDONESIA are looking good for a clean sweep of all seven gold medals at stake in badminton. And Malaysia will have to slog very hard indeed to even steal one of them.

Besides having a solid team, Indonesia also have good incentive and great motivation to accomplish the feat – a gold medal is worth RM80,000.

And their seriousness in wanting to make an impact in the Laos Games was underlined by the withdrawal of their top players from the US$500,000 Super Series Masters Finals in Johor Baru last week.

Malaysia’s doubles chief coach Rexy Mainaky said that Indonesia had always treated the SEA Games as one of their main tournaments.

“For Indonesians, it is a privilege and honour to represent their country. And the government honours their commitment by giving out rewards lavishly,” said Rexy, an Indonesian.

“Besides the RM80,000 reward, the athletes can also look forward to good job opportunities and sometimes land is also given to the winners. The SEA Games is a big thing in Indonesia.

“With strong support and backing, nothing will stop Indonesian players from going all out in the SEA Games.

“It will be an achievement for Malaysia to beat Indonesia at their best.”

An AFP news report confirmed today that Lee Chong Wei will not play the Asian Sea Games.

World number one badminton player Chong Wei withdrew from Malaysia’s Southeast Asian Games squad on his coach’s orders due to injury concerns, according to a report.

Lee’s absence is a major blow to the team’s hopes at the SEA Games and comes after Malaysia scooped three titles at the season-ending BWF World Super Series Masters Finals, including Lee’s win in the men’s singles on Sunday.

“I told him (Lee) to rest upon advice from a private doctor in Kuala Lumpur due to his nagging thigh injury,” Misbun Sidek, the national singles coach, was quoted as saying by Malaysia’s New Straits Times newspaper. [..]