The Russian way of promoting badminton…

Russians play badminton in front of the Kremlin

Badminton Europe’s website reports that the Russians have come up with a novel way to popularize badminton. The National Badminton Federation of Russia apparently came up with the idea of a mobile badminton court that was used for the public to play badminton near the Kremlin a few days ago.

The initiative is possibly a follow-up of the stated love for the sport by the country’s two most powerful people – President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The National Badminton Federation of Russia has 15.000 registered players in about 240 badminton clubs in the country. The 2013 European Mixed Team Championships will be hosted by the Russian federation in the Moscow region.It may be recalled that Medvedev and Putin, in their previous stints as President and Prime Minister respectively, had plugged badminton through a video, claiming that it would improve decision-making ability and fitness. The video had some unintended consequences, with some Russian bloggers wondering at the irony of Medvedev talking about decision-making, when he is known to defer to Putin.

There were also reports that the Russian army was being trained in badminton, which would apparently help them improve their fighting abilities, but the reports were scotched by the government.