The game of badminton is certainly catching up when it comes to umpiring with 14 candidates from 13 member associations under test in the on-going Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Suzhou, China.
The 14 were picked from Badminton Asia's Regional Umpires course held in Miryang, Korea and Kathmandu, Nepal late last year.
The youngest candidate attending the accreditation course in Suzhou is Nepal's Kritan Khadka who is only 19 years-old while the oldest at the age of 45 is Sri Lanka's Thushara Bandara.
Those who make the grade in Suzhou will be chosen for the Badminton Asia's Certification course which will be held in two years time.
South Korea with two candidates – Jonghyon Ryu and Woo Hyeongho – heads the list of candidates who hope to make the grade to the next level. The other countries with one candidate each are Myanmar (Ms. Yadanar Myat), Malaysia (Afiq Danial Zuraidi), Chinese Taipei (Ms. Huang Ching-Wei), Indonesia (Ms. Helen Purnama Sari), Mongolia (Ishkhuu Unur), Lebanon (Ms. Grace Obeid), Bangladesh (Nuruzzaman Liton), India (Siva Balan), Iran (Saeed Hemmatian Zadeh) and K. Shyam Kumar (United Arab Emirates).
After their examinations, the candidates are currently doing their practical test under the watchful eyes of assessors Mr. Sudhakar Vemuri (India) and Ms. Zheng Sanliang (China).
