With neon lights on the floor and walls, pulsing electronic beats, and a glowing red shuttlecock bouncing back and forth, a Malaysian badminton court evokes a sci-fi movie set.
Shuttle in the Dark, a badminton hall in the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, was set up late last year by Inic Sport Management, a sports management company, to encourage people to take up the sport after two years of social restrictions because amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our initial goal was how can we encourage and gain back the interest of people to come back and play,” Inic Sport Management director Irina Inozemtseva said. “Not only those enthusiasts, but then as well, the new people who were not able to or never played badminton before.”
Photo: Reuters
Playing in a futuristic court presents an unusual challenge for athletes, as they have to adjust their eyes to the darkness to play, professional badminton coach Lee Yan Sheng said.
“With the lighting, somehow we are still able to hit it and then it requires better focus,” Lee said. “And it’s exciting. It’s different, but it’s still like playing normal” badminton, professional player Ho Yen Mei said.
Open to athletes of all levels, Shuttle in the Dark charges 180 ringgit (US$42.63) per hour to use the courts and rent their neon equipment.
A regular public court in Malaysia charges about 20 ringgit.
MOTHER KNOWS BEST: Warriors’ coach Kerr said his 91-year-old mother criticized him for his attitude toward officials that led to his ejection from Monday’s game Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Wednesday rescued the Oklahoma City Thunder with a game-tying buzzer-beater before finishing with 46 points in a 129-125 overtime victory against the Utah Jazz. The reigning NBA champions looked to be heading for a third straight loss after the Jazz inched into a 114-112 lead following Lauri Markkanen’s layup with just three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. However, NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander drained a superb 13-foot jump shot to tie it up at 114-114 as the buzzer sounded to send the game into overtime. Gilgeous-Alexander then took over in the extra period with nine points as the Western
Manchester City have confirmed defender Josko Gvardiol suffered a broken leg in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. Gvardiol was one of two City centerbacks who went off injured in the second half, along with Ruben Dias, before Enzo Fernandez scored a stoppage-time equalizer for the visitors. The draw left second-placed City six points behind English Premier League leaders Arsenal. City, announcing Gvardiol sustained a tibial fracture to his right leg, added in a statement issued on Monday: “The defender will have surgery later this week and assessment remains ongoing to ascertain the full extent of the
AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE: Sabalenka aims to follow up with a third Australian Open win, while Taiwanese Joanna Garland claimed a WTA 125 title in Canberra Aryna Sabalenka beat Karolina Muchova in straight sets to reach her third Brisbane International final in a row yesterday, a week ahead of the Australian Open. Sabalenka looked in great touch against the tricky Czech, who had won their last three meetings and went into the match as one of the few players with a winning record over the world No. 1. However, Sabalenka showed her class and power as she broke Muchova once in each set to take the semi-final 6-3, 6-4 in 89 minutes to face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the final. “I struggled against her a couple of times [in
His team were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in agonizing fashion on Tuesday, but the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DR Congo) human statue Michel Kuka Mboladinga would be remembered as the tournament’s most remarkable supporter. The colorfully dressed Kuka has earned fame as the fan who stands completely immobile throughout his team’s games, looking toward the sky with his right arm raised and palm open. He has become a media star and on Tuesday was accompanied by a delegation of several hundred Congolese supporters whose trip to Morocco was paid for by the country’s government. They took their
RSS