Shuttle Storm Abbotsford aiming to grow badminton with inaugural tournament
Published 3:42 pm Tuesday, October 27, 2026
The sport of badminton is about to receive its biggest spotlight in Abbotsford ever in a few weeks’ time.
The inaugural Shuttle Storm Abbotsford 2026 tournament takes over the University of the Fraser Valley Athletic Centre’s North Gym for a full day of action on Saturday, Nov. 21.
The event is open to 10 different singles and doubles divisions for ages 13 to 50-plus, with a youth and UFV student rate of $30 and an adult rate of $40 per category.
The tournament is part of a larger plan by the newly-formed and Abbotsford-based Shuttle Storm Badminton Club to grow the sport locally. The club was founded by locals Ashish Dawar and Rakesh Arya, with partners Summit Grover and Sanjeev Grover also coming aboard.
Dawar said he’s been passionate about badminton for a very long time and played at a high level in his native India. He said he’s been playing locally for the past five years and wants to help build interest in the sport in Abbotsford.
“We travel everywhere for tournaments,” he said. “We go to Nanaimo, we go to the United States – so we thought that it was time to do something here in Abbotsford for the community to get together for and really boast about.”
He pointed out that nearby Richmond has tournaments every month, but Abbotsford hasn’t had any big badminton events for years. Dawar said early response to Shuttle Storm has proven that the interest is there.
“We’re getting players from Vancouver, Calgary, Kelowna and we’ve got sponsors – so we’ve had some amazing support so far,” he said.
Dawar pointed out that Shuttle Storm doesn’t want to compete with existing badminton groups in Abbotsford, but that they want to work together to build the sport up.
The City of Abbotsford currently offers drop-in badminton sessions for various age groups at the Abbotsford Recreation Centre and UFV offers the same but only for UFV students, staff and alumni. The Abbotsford Badminton Club offers sessions for advanced players only twice a week at Abbotsford Middle School.
Dawar said he regularly attends many of these sessions and notes that Shuttle Storm is talking with city officials to find a permanent spot for the group to host games. He added that he wants to eventually build up the proper infrastructure for the sport in Abbotsford with facilities, coaching and more.
He said that badminton is a sport that can be played year-round, is relatively inexpensive and is great exercise for all ages. Shuttle Storm is a registered Badminton BC club and follows all provincial standards and rules.
For more information on the club and the tournament, visit shuttlestorm.adawar.org.