Amy Ackerman and Deidré Jordaan have won a gold medal and earned the maximum amount of points in Botswana, setting themselves up for an excellent final tournament in Cape Town.
South Africa (28 November 2022) – Amy Ackerman and Deidré Jordaan set their sights on becoming the top South African representatives for Badminton on the world stage and they are so close to dropping below 100 on their ranking. They recently won Gold in Botswana for the ladies’ doubles.
Over the last two months, the pair have competed in Egypt, Zambia, and Botswana and are now on their way to the final tournament of 2022 in Cape Town. With their success in Botswana, the ladies are fast approaching their ranking goal of below 100 – this is massive considering they started 2022 with no valid ranking.
Amy and Deidré have been included in the Badminton Confederation of Africa’s (BCA) “Road to Paris” (RTP) programme. This programme has identified Africa’s most promising badminton players that show potential to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France. Their inclusion in the programme followed their success at the African Championships held in February this year, where they achieved a silver medal.
Currently, Badminton South Africa (BSA) is unfunded, unsponsored, and awaits support from the National Lottery Fund or another sponsor. For these reasons, BSA is unable to provide any financial assistance to any of the South African players chosen for the Road to Paris programme.
The objective of the RTP programme is to facilitate the attendance of these players at several African, Pan-American and other international tournaments to boost their world ranking with Badminton World Federation (BWF). To qualify for the Olympics, players will need to be ranked number one in their discipline (singles/doubles/mixed doubles) in Africa and among the top 50 in the world.
You can find out more about Amy and Deidrè’s journey and crowdfunding efforts here.
The ladies were joined by fellow players Jarred Elliot, Johanita Scholtz and Robert Summers.
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