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Author: Glasgow Evening Times
Date: 31 Dec 2008
Category: General News
SCOTLAND'S top badminton player has slammed the sport's ruling body - after it pulled his funding just months before the World Championships.
Alistair Casey has been the Scottish No1 ranked men's singles player in the world for four years running.
The talented player has recently qualified for the individual men's heats of this year's World Badminton Championships.
But he says he's facing a funding crisis as Badminton Scotland is refusing to give him financial support.
Now Alistair, who has played in some of the world's top series, claims his career is hanging by a thread.
And the former badminton bad-boy is appealing to Glasgow firms to give him a funding boost. He said: "The lack of funding is very destructive to the sport and we need to find a solution.
"I know many players who have lost funding and have had to drop out of playing.
In his younger years, Alistair was a some-time controversial figure on the badminton ciruit.
Aged 22, he was accused of drinking too heavily at weekends and taken to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting by his coach.
He also riled the badminton community in 2005 after he hit back at Dan Travers, Scotland's then high performance coach, who had criticised male players for not committing to the game.
However, the 28-year-old says his boisterous years are behind him and his main concern is representing his country at an international level.
Alistair, from Queen's Cross, added: "You don't get into the top tournaments unless you go out and play the top tournaments around the world.
"But there is just no support in Scotland for young players unless they only play UK and European matches, meaning you're stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Alistair began playing the sport aged 14 when his parents sent him to a Glasgow City Council summer school at the Kelvinhall.
During the week-long course, he discovered a love for the game and decided to commit himself full time to the sport.
Since turning professional aged 18, Alistair has balanced his training schedule with working full time to top up his funding pot.
Last year he sold McChuills Bar, on High Street, to get cash to support himself this year.
He also gains minimal funding from a club in Spain and has played for clubs in New Zealand and Australia.
During the past four years Alistair says he has spent more than £25,000 of his own money playing in two Super Series Events in China and Hong Kong.
He is the only Scot to have qualified for the men's singles in the 2009 Badminton World Federation World Championships and is ranked 69 in the world.
Anne Smillie, chief executive of Badminton Scotland, said: "The World Badminton Championships are not actually being supported by Badminton Scotland as they are not in our tournament programme.
"Alistair has elected to compete at his own expense and has not taken part in Scottish tournaments for as long as I can remember, although we have encouraged him to do so.
"Last year we invested £100,000 in supporting young badminton players and I wish Alistair all the best with future tournaments."
