Deidré Jordaan (27), an accomplished South African national badminton player, has been part of the South African squad since 2020. She has represented the country at African Championships in 2020, 2021 and 2022, competing in all disciplines of the sport (singles, doubles and mixed doubles). Most recently Deidré was selected as one of only two women to represent South Africa in Badminton at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Road to Paris Programme
Deidré and her women’s doubles partner have been included in the Badminton Confederation of Africa’s (BCA) “Road to Paris” (RTP) programme. This programme has identified Africa’s most promising badminton players and show potential to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France. Their inclusion in the programme is following their success at the African Championships held in February this year, where they achieved a silver medal.
The objective of the RTP programme is to facilitate the attendance of these players at several African, Pan-American and other international tournaments to boost their world ranking with Badminton World Federation (BWF). To qualify for the Olympics, players will need to be ranked number one in their discipline (singles/doubles/mixed doubles) in Africa and among the top 50 in the world.
Funding Requirement
The RTP programme includes co-funding by BCA, however the funding is limited, and a significant portion of the costs must be covered by the local badminton federation or the players themselves.
Currently Badminton South Africa (BSA) is unfunded, unsponsored, and awaits support from the National Lottery Fund or another sponsor. For these reasons, BSA is unable to provide any financial assistance to any of the South African players chosen for RTP.
In pursuit of her Olympic dreams, Deidré is faced with little option but to self-fund the shortfall of R97,154 which will help her compete in the six identified tournaments over the next six months.
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