'It's a lady's sport': The challenge of badminton in Uganda, Canada, Bulgaria
The 2026 BWF World Championships highlight the disparity in global badminton representation, with major powers like China and India dominating while smaller nations struggle for resources. Athletes from countries like Uganda and Bulgaria share their personal challenges in competing on the world stage with limited support.
Why it matters
It illustrates the economic and structural barriers that prevent smaller nations from achieving parity in international sports.
NEW DELHI: The 2026 BWF World Championships, which began on Monday, has the most representation from China (30) followed by Chinese Taipei (24), Indonesia (24), Japan (23) and India, Malaysia (20). European powerhouse Denmark have 13 members across the five draws. One can guage the popularity of a sport in a country by the media outlets that travel for a competition. TV2 (Denmark), China Media Group (China) and Astro (Malaysia) are the three outlets that have made the journey to New Delhi.At the other end of the spectrum sit the likes of Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil, Mexico and Uganda. These countries have very few players to show for themselves, let alone a travelling media contingent.Take Uganda's Fadilah Shamika Mohamed Rafi for instance. The 21-year-old was born in Tamil Nadu and didn't have enough partners to train so she moved to Mauritius.
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