Wimbledon may be the biggest name in Tennis, but another Olympic racket

sport is stirring in London SW19....Badminton

Wimbledon Racquets & Fitness Club, who came third in last weekend’s

BADMINTON England Cup Grand Final series, has been named as only the

third Club Future Performance Centre in the country.

As a Performance Centre, Wimbledon will receive £10,000 per year until

2010 to help with talent identification and development of players, on

and off court, ultimately aiming to produce players capable of medal

success.

Sport England awarded BADMINTON England almost £2 million as part of a

£3.5 million strategy to invest in clubs and coaches, via the Club

Future programme. The funding will enable BADMINTON England to

establish a network of 50 Performance Centres across the country.

The aim is to create a pool of talented players to challenge for places

on the World Class Start & Potential programmes and, ultimately, win

Olympic medals. The centre will also continue to develop existing

coaches, and find new ones.

BADMINTON England Chief Executive Adrian Christy said of Club Future:

"For me the challenge of the culture of the clubs is one of the most

exciting. It's where people start to play, where they continue a

life-long experience, where they nurture talent, where coaches and

volunteers are. And this is where we should be embedding our

competition".

Performance Centre status means a close working relationship between

the club and BADMINTON England, to introduce new players to the game and

nurture potential champions of the future. It will play a major part in

the National Governing Body’s ambition to become the best Badminton

nation in the World by 2016.

While overseas stars are again likely to dominate at the All England

Club over the next two weeks, the neighbouring Rackets & Fitness Club is

setting sail on a mission to play its part in creating home grown

success.

You can meet Wimbledon Racquets & Fitness Club at the Wimbledon Village

Fair on Saturday 21 June. Alternatively for further information please

contact tel: 020 8947 5806 or go to the website at www.wimbledon.co.uk