Congratulations to Badminton Oceania’s fourth Serve-ing Pacific winner, Kinivanagi Karo, from Papua New Guinea. He was nominated for excelling in INCLUSIVENESS – one of the five organisational values which Badminton Oceania embeds across all programme areas.
Serve-ing Pacific is Badminton Oceania’s volunteer recognition scheme, acknowledging the hard work and commitment of volunteers across Oceania as we work towards a common goal of making badminton accessible to all.
For Kini, the opportunity to become the President of Badminton Papua New Guinea (BPNG) arose from a chance meeting with PNG’s Sports Federations, and after six years, he has not looked back. Not only does he oversee the development of badminton in Papua New Guinea with this role, he is also a qualified Shuttle Time teacher and coach, eager to take on responsibilities to further the organisations capabilities.
More recently, he has been acknowledged for more philanthropic purposes among the community, utilising PNG’s workforce of Shuttle Time teachers and badminton players to assist with the COVID-19 foodbank support operations when his community needed it most. Using power by numbers, he led a team to distribute food supplies and deliver to those most in need around Port Moresby as the local restrictions made accessibility to essential services more difficult.
In his nomination, he was commended for his significant and personal investments into badminton. He dedicates a lot of time to the growth of badminton in PNG, particularly among persons with disabilities. Through the likes of sports for development programmes such as TeamUp and Inclusive GymBad (previously known as PSP), Kini assisted the implementation of the program (funded by the Australian government) to encourage more girls and persons with disabilities to play sport.
In 2020, Kini and his team also oversaw the formation of PNG’s first badminton team to compete in an international tournament; the VICTOR Oceania Para Badminton Championships 2020.
“Kinivanagi does a lot of programs for badminton that work around people living with disability. He also goes out of his way to support the BPNGF, working tirelessly through the year trying to push badminton in PNG and making awareness the sport even during COVID period,” said BPNG Treasurer, Lancelot Gerawa.
Once again, Badminton Oceania thanks Kinivanagi for his ongoing work and his commitment to upholding our values, particularly inclusiveness.
The prize for each winner in Serve-ing Pacific is a local lunch voucher, which Kini and a guest can use to support local business. Additionally, he will be the fourth to enter the random six-monthly draw (including the other six winners) for the ultimate staycation prize, which will be drawn in May 2022.
Keep your eyes peeled at the beginning of April 2022 to find out who the next winner is.
Do you want to volunteer in badminton? Or do you know a volunteer who you would like to nominate? Find out more by clicking here.
Article adapted from the Badminton Oceania website.