Ammon News - Nobody expected a Jordanian girl, flying in from Amman, to conquer the UAE Badminton Open at Dubai’s India Club last weekend, picking up both singles and doubles titles.

But that is exactly what Dima Ardah did on her debut. The 26-year-old is fighting her way up the rankings whilst trying to get more people to play badminton in her country and the region.

She started her own academy in Jordan last year and is targeting a solid run at the Arab Championships later this year. She found time to talk to Sport360°’s Reem Abulleil.

When and how did you start playing badminton?

I started playing badminton when I was 17 years old - a bit late as most badminton players start at a young age - and that was at my school when my P.E teacher met the Jordanian national team coach, who invited me to start practising with him when he saw that I was talented. I’ve been playing with the Jordanian national team now for the past eight years. I’m now ranked in the top 400 in the world. I’m second in the Arab world and third in West Asia.

Are you fully dedicated to the sport?

I graduated from university with a degree in architecture and I worked for three years in the field. But then I decided to quit architecture and just focus on badminton and I established my own academy in Jordan. It’s called Shuttlers Academy.

It’s the first, not only in Jordan but in the Middle East as well. It’s not a very well-known sport in Jordan and because of that I established Shuttlers. I want everyone to know more about badminton in my country. It’s been almost a year since I established the academy, and thank God I feel that more and more people are showing up and getting to know more about the sport.

Are you considering branching out of Jordan and setting up other academies in the Middle East?

Yes for sure especially in the GCC countries. I know that if badminton is not a well-known sport in Jordan, it’s almost non-existent in the Gulf area, so yes, why not set up other branches for Shuttlers outside Jordan, maybe in Dubai, for example.

What are your current and future goals?

I’m now focusing on the Arab Championships which will be held in October. It will probably take place in Jordan. But at the same time I have a dream to reach the Olympics in 2016 and I am looking for sponsorship since qualifying to the Olympics needs a huge budget which my federation can’t handle.

How did you feel about your tournament here in Dubai? Winning is always great for any player whatever and however, so what do I think of being the champion of the UAE Open on my first time there?

Simply it’s amazing. It was also my first tournament to participate in without having my coach or any team-mates with me, and winning when I’m alone with no support has a different taste. It gave me lots of self-confidence and I felt proud. I definitely want to come back and I will also invite my friends from Jordan. They never would have thought that there would be a badminton tournament in Dubai, but now I have the pictures to prove it.

What attracted you to this sport?

As they say, badminton is like physical chess. It’s physically very tough. You should be very fit to play it. And at the same time, mentally it’s very tough. So you should work mentally very hard. Some sports are physically tough, others are mentally challenging, but badminton is both. It’s very enjoyable.

Not just that, badminton can be played whenever, wherever and whoever you are. You can play it regardless of your level and you will improve. That’s the best thing about badminton, everyone can enjoy it.

Why do you think badminton isn’t so popular in the Arab world, and do you think that is going to change?

It’s a relatively new sport in this region – it’s only been introduced to the Arab world about 20 years ago. While in other parts of the world, it’s been around for over 100 years.

Also in this region, they care more about football and other team sports and we don’t focus much on individual sports. There isn’t that much support or attention for badminton. But hopefully, bit by bit, we can start spreading the sport around in the region and from my experience in my academy, everyone who shows up whether they have no idea, or a bad idea, about the sport, they end up having a completely different impression. They don’t know badminton, they don’t watch it on television, so they don’t know better. But once they know about it, they fall in love with it.

What is the most memorable tournament you’ve ever participated in?

I have two. The first one is the 2007 Asian Championships in Malaysia because it was my first tournament to play alongside some of the world’s top players. The second one is the 2011 Syria International Championship, which is part of the World Super Series, because I won my country the first and only international medal in singles, besides winning silver in mixed doubles and another bronze in women’s doubles.

*Sport360