Source: Channel News Asia, 20 October 2015

The S$500,000 will be primarily used for the badminton players’ training allowances and overseas competition trips.

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) has received a big sign of support from local businesses to the tune of half a million dollars.

The S$500,000 is the result of the fundraising efforts by Louken Group, specifically its CEO, Mr Luke Lim, who is also SBA’s vice president.

“It was a very easy journey,” said Mr Lim. “We were very delighted to have a very strong support from the local business community. It can be S$10,000, S$5,000, S$30,000 – it all came very voluntarily. It took us less than a month.”

It will be primarily used for the badminton players’ training allowances and overseas competition trips – two areas that SBA President Lee Yi Shyan identified as the main areas of expenses.

“In order to give them the kind of exposure that is needed to develop international, world-class skills, we have to send them to various competitions,” said Mr Lee. “So, I think every year, we run a deficit. We have sponsorships from the Sports Council (SportSG), but we also need the donations and sponsorships from corporate sectors.”

The cheque was presented to SBA during Louken’s Community fundraiser event on Tuesday (Oct 20), in conjunction with the pre-launch of Mr Lim’s new book, Brand Bull Run. All proceeds from the pre-launch were also donated to SBA.

Out of the money raised, S$200,000 was contributed by Singapore-listed real estate developer OUE Limited. The rest of the donations came from 22 local businesses, such as BreadTalk, Charles and Keith, Jumbo Group of Restaurants and Scanteak.

The financial boost comes off the back of a successful month for SBA. At the recent Badminton Asia Junior Championships, Yeo Jia Min won the girls’ singles Under-17 title, before teaming up with Crystal Wong to clinch the U-17 doubles event as well.? Liang Xiaoyu, meanwhile, claimed the biggest upset of the Thailand Open earlier in October when she knocked out world number 8 Ratchanok Intanon in the women’s singles semi-finals.