Racket Rebels: Sichuan’s Young Aces Shine at the Thrilling 2024 ‘Spark Cup’ Youth Badminton Championship in Ya’an

Serving, swinging the racket, and winning the game. On August 31, in the Shimian County Gymnasium, as the fierce battle of the final showdown came to an end, the “Spark Cup” 2024 Sichuan Youth Badminton Championship came to a successful conclusion.

Photo: Ya’an Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Sports and Tourism

The competition started on July 19 and lasted for more than a month. Young badminton players from all over the province competed in many intense competitions in Ya’an City Gymnasium and Shimian County Gymnasium according to different groups, fully demonstrating the vitality and charm of young people.

In addition to the competition, they went on study tours, viewed the beautiful scenery of Ya’an, and tasted the local specialties, leaving behind wonderful memories.

One “click” will ignite dreams and bloom youth

On August 27, the “Spark Cup” 2024 Sichuan Youth Badminton Championship Group A competition kicked off at the Shimian County Gymnasium. On the court, the contestants flexibly used various ball skills, such as brisk short lobs, precise long lobs, sharp passes and powerful smashes. Every attack and defense transition showed their tenacious and courageous competitive spirit.

Photo: Ya’an Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Sports and Tourism

With the final whistle on August 31, the event came to an end, and the contestants stepped onto the podium with honor, bringing this sports feast to a successful conclusion. The championship was hosted by the Sichuan Provincial Sports Bureau and co-organized by the Badminton Management Center of Sichuan Sports Vocational College, Ya’an Municipal Culture, Radio, Television, Sports and Tourism Bureau and other units. Compared with previous events, this event has achieved a new leap in scale and specifications, attracting more than 50 teams and about 1,350 young badminton players from all over the province to participate enthusiastically.

The event was carefully arranged in two major competition areas, Yucheng and Shimian. The competition items were divided into men’s team, women’s team, men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles, etc. The competition in Yucheng was held at Ya’an City Gymnasium from July 19 to 27. Nearly a thousand players from Group B, C, D, E and F fought hard on the field. The Shimian competition area was specially opened for Group A. From August 27 to August 31, more than 300 badminton stars from all over the province launched a fierce championship battle in Shimian County Gymnasium.

The contestants included both fledgling primary school students and young and promising junior and senior high school students, who worked hard together on the field to pursue their dreams. After the competition, the contestants generally believed that this championship not only provided them with opportunities to accumulate competition experience and improve their competitive skills, but also enabled them to communicate and learn with outstanding players from all over the province, making progress together and pursuing their dreams hand in hand.

Event escort and careful protection

Behind a successful sports event, there are many staff members who have made full preparations and cooperated tacitly. In order to ensure the safety and order of the competition, the organizers of the event have been providing thoughtful services. According to relevant persons in charge, creating a standardized, safe and comfortable competition environment is the key to hosting this event. Ya’an has made comprehensive and detailed preparations in many key links such as security, medical rescue, emergency rescue, network communication, power supply guarantee and volunteer service.

Photo: Ya’an Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Sports and Tourism

In particular, in terms of the safety of the participants, each venue has set up a medical rescue point, equipped with first aid facilities and medicines, and arranged medical staff and ambulances to be stationed. In addition, the event has organized AED (electrocardiographic defibrillator) practical training for relevant personnel in advance, and equipped each competition venue with mobile AED to ensure rapid response and effective treatment in emergency situations.

The strong support of the event has won wide recognition from the participating teams. Hu Yan, the leader of Chengdu Future Star Club, believes that the atmosphere of this event is good, the publicity is excellent, and the organization is orderly. The accommodation environment of the team in Ya’an is also good. The hotel is located on the bank of Qingyi River, with beautiful natural scenery and cool climate. The team members enjoyed the beautiful scenery and pleasant climate on the way to the game, and were in a good mood, which was conducive to the state of the game.

Yang Zhongmin, the leader and coach of Chengdu Yuguantian Club, praised the hardware facilities and organization of the competition venue. He said that this was his third time leading the team to compete in Ya’an, and he was very impressed by the Ya’an Sports Center, which had good hardware facilities and good organization. Although there were many contestants, the competition was carried out in an orderly manner.

This event also attracted parents of contestants to watch the game. Lin Zhiwen from Zigong said that the venue was relatively large and the temperature was suitable, so the audience could watch the game clearly and coolly, providing a high-quality environment for the contestants to compete comfortably and smoothly.

The integration of sports and tourism has achieved remarkable results

In recent years, Ya’an City has successfully hosted a number of top sporting events, such as the “Ancient Tea-Horse Road” Ya’an International Road Cycling Race, and successfully turned the events into a grand event integrating sports and tourism.

This year is no exception. In order to promote the deep integration and high-quality development of sports tourism and help Ya’an build an “important destination for world giant panda cultural tourism”, the organizing committee of the event specially planned the innovative study activity “Travel with the event”. Based on Ya’an’s two city cards – “tea culture” and “panda culture”, the event launched the “Sichuan’s only intangible cultural heritage of mankind” tea culture event study and “Explore the mysteries of nature and appreciate the charm of pandas” giant panda culture event study, which were warmly welcomed by the contestants and parents.

Photo: Ya’an Sports Development Center

During the event, the contestants, under the guidance of the “Panda Journey to the West” research instructor, visited the Bifengxia Scenic Area Ecological Canyon and the Ya’an Base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda and other scenic spots. They not only experienced the coolness of Ya’an in summer, but also appreciated the magnificent local scenery and tasted local delicacies such as Ya’an fish and Shimian barbecue. These experiences left them with unforgettable impressions.

The innovative research activity “Travel with the Event” is a successful attempt by Ya’an City in the integration of sports and tourism. Ya’an City has been committed to this and has achieved remarkable results. In recent years, Ya’an City has actively promoted the coordinated development of youth sports and competitive sports, and has successively held a series of wonderful youth sports events. These events not only enhance the appeal of sports, but also promote the development of tourism with the popularity of the events, greatly stimulating the enthusiasm of primary and secondary school students to participate.

In 2024, Ya’an City actively applied to host provincial youth sports events and successfully won the right to host 6 provincial youth sports events. The number of hosting events ranked third in the province, second only to Chengdu and Yibin, with a year-on-year increase of 200%, creating a new historical record for the city to host provincial youth competition events in an annual period. These events were concentrated in July and August, covering 5 counties (districts) in Ya’an, including: Chinese wrestling at the National Fitness Center in Yucheng District, three-on-three basketball and judo at the Tianquan County Gymnasium, weightlifting at the Lushan County Gymnasium, martial arts routines at the Yingjing County Gymnasium, and badminton competitions at the Municipal Sports Center Gymnasium and Shimian County Gymnasium. The total number of participants in the six events exceeded 4,300, and more than 25,000 student athletes, relatives, children of youth training teams and many sports enthusiasts from various cities and prefectures in the province followed the event to Ya’an. This event also boosted the comprehensive consumption of the city’s catering, accommodation, cultural tourism and other industries, breaking the 30 million yuan mark.

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