Russian Senior Defense Ministry Demoted of Badminton Story
The head of the Russian Defense Ministry sports directorate, Alexander Shchepelev, was demoted, apparently over an interview that was published saying the ministry planned to buy badminton equipment in a hype after President Dmitry Medvedev said he enjoyed the sport, an officer in the ministry's central apparatus said.
The officer told RIA Novosti the decision was made after the Izvestia daily reported in mid-November that the Defense Ministry planned to provide the Russian Army, including snipers, with badminton equipment - 10,000 rackets and tens of thousands of birdies – in 2012. Shchepelev was quoted in the report as saying that badminton was “an important part of sports training in military units.” “Watching a birdie,” he explained, “trains the eye muscles, strengthens the cardiovascular system and develops reaction speeds.”
The Russian Defense Ministry later denied the report, saying that “badminton is not an applied sports in the Armed Forces.”
The article was published soon after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev attracted international and domestic media attention with a clip on his official blog where he spoke about his love for badminton, which he said “develops your physical form, eye coordination, accuracy and reactions.” The clip was designed to foster interest in the sport among Russian schoolchildren. The video shows Medvedev playing badminton with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Shchepelev, who was appointed as head of the Central Sports Club of the Army (CSKA), dismissed the allegations on Friday that his demotion was linked to the article, saying he had changed his job at his “own will.”
“My transfer to another position was motivated by personal reasons, not by the Izvestia publication,” he said.
Another ministry source said Shchepelev's demotion was a "planned shift."
“This is not about revenge or punishment - an officer cannot serve in one position more than three years," he said.
Russian Army Denied Taking Badminton Into Training Curriculum
Mr Medvedev released an awkward video of himself and Vladimir Putin playing badminton earlier this year, singing the sport's praises. Since then, it has been reported that badminton may become part of the school and army curriculum.
The claim that it will be used to train the army appears to have caused consternation within the defense ministry. Unnamed military sources insisted on Monday that no such badminton gears purchase was planned.
"Badminton is not a military-applicable sport in the armed forces and its development is not part of soldiers' physical preparation program," one of the sources angrily said. Recruitment videos for the army usually show muscle-bound men breaking bricks with their bare hands or engaged in hand-to-hand combat rather than playing badminton.
Russia's seven main training centers for new conscripts were already equipped with ten badminton courts apiece, he stated, and the plan was eventually to make sure that every military base had the necessary facilities, but it was not meant we had to "do badminton" particularly within our military curriculum.