{"id":13746,"date":"2025-06-20T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T01:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/?p=13746"},"modified":"2025-05-16T14:27:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T07:27:17","slug":"world-refugee-day-badminton-ignites-purpose-and-possibility-at-3rd-hope-and-dreams-sports-festival-in-jordan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/whats-new\/world-refugee-day-badminton-ignites-purpose-and-possibility-at-3rd-hope-and-dreams-sports-festival-in-jordan","title":{"rendered":"World Refugee Day: Badminton Ignites Purpose and Possibility at 3rd Hope and Dreams Sports Festival in Jordan"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Refugee Day<\/strong><\/a> is a global call to recognise the courage, aspirations and rights of forcibly displaced people. Nowhere was that spirit more alive than at the 3rd Hope and Dreams Sports Festival, held from 30 April to 3 May 2025 in Amman, Jordan, where more than 1,250 refugee children and young athletes came together to experience the unifying power of sport.<\/p>\n

Organised by the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF) and World Taekwondo, with the support of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), FIBA Foundation, Baseball5, and handball, this year\u2019s festival was the most inclusive to date. It featured an expanded programme of sports\u2014some new, some returning\u2014all designed to provide joy, structure and opportunity to children from refugee backgrounds.<\/p>\n

Among those activities, badminton has emerged as one of the fastest growing. In 2024, just 14 children from the Azraq camp had taken up the sport. One year later, 80 children aged 6 to 16 participated in the 2025 festival, a result of consistent weekly training and expanded outreach throughout the year.[vc_single_image image=”13753″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]BWF Development Project Manager, Jaffer Ebrahim, who has overseen the programme and attended the festival, shared how impactful the growth has been. \u201cSince our involvement in the 2nd festival, we\u2019ve worked to grow the badminton programme to include 80 players who are not only improving their badminton skills but also gaining essential life skills. Through our Shuttle Time Youth Leadership Programme, we\u2019ve ensured young refugees gain valuable life lessons alongside their love for the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

In October 2024, BWF organised a Shuttle Time Youth Leadership Workshop at Azraq camp. Graduates of the workshop are now taking on new roles\u2014coaching younger players, umpiring games, and organising internal competitions\u2014creating a self-sustaining programme led by youth, for youth.<\/p>\n

Refugee coach Naim Saleh Abdul Qader Al-Waqfi has continued leading weekly sessions at Azraq, supported by BWF and under the guidance of Ebrahim. \u201cWe have a full-year plan leading up to the 2026 Hope and Dreams Festival, which includes weekly training sessions, competitions, and learning opportunities,\u201d said Ebrahim. \u201cThe programme is going from strength to strength.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”13751″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]The sport has had a tangible personal impact. Areej, aged 13, shared: \u201cBefore badminton, my life was just going to school and coming back home with without a dream. After playing badminton, I have made friends and found purpose in life. I now dream of competing in the Olympics and I can\u2019t imagine life without badminton.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the festival build-up, Ebrahim again visited the Azraq and Zaatari refugee camps, introducing Shuttle Time activities and ensuring continued access to equipment and coaching support. During the festival itself, children were invited to the Jordan national training centre for a dedicated coaching clinic conducted in partnership with the Jordan Badminton Federation.<\/p>\n

BWF President, Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul said: “The BWF is deeply committed to supporting humanitarian efforts, and our partnership with THF at the 3rd Hope and Dreams Festival 2025 is truly special. Witnessing young refugees embrace badminton as the sport transforms their lives and ignites hope is incredibly rewarding. We will continue to support such initiatives.”<\/p>\n

BWF\u2019s commitment is rooted in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with THF in 2019 and the outcomes of that partnership continue to grow. Looking ahead, BWF is already preparing for the 4th Hope and Dreams Sports Festival in 2026, which will mark THF\u2019s 10th anniversary and aims to include 10 sports and even more refugee participants.<\/p>\n

Festival organisers and sport federations alike hailed the 2025 edition as a major success. \u201cThis has been the biggest and best edition of the Hope and Dreams Sports Festival so far,\u201d said THF President Chungwon Choue, \u201cand we are deeply grateful for the support of our partners. The resilience of these young athletes is truly remarkable.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”13774,13772,13766,13765,13760,13758,13757,13753,13750,13749,13748″ title=”Photo credit: Taekwando Humanitarian Foundation”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World Refugee Day is a global call to recognise the courage, aspirations and rights of forcibly displaced people. Nowhere was that spirit more alive than at the 3rd Hope and Dreams Sports Festival, held from 30 April to 3 May 2025 in Amman, Jordan, where more than 1,250 refugee children and young athletes came together to experience the unifying power of sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2630,"featured_media":13750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[294],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whats-new","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2630"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13746"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13778,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13746\/revisions\/13778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}