As a badminton player there are some tournaments that you should play when you are entitled to participate. Entitled means that your position on the world ranking makes that you are qualified to participate. One of these tournaments is the All England about which I wrote some weeks ago. My partner Samantha and I went there on our own expense and we made it till the last 16. We have achieved a lot of experience and it was great playing a top 10 pair. Partly because of this result but also because of our performances at the Dutch Open, the Bitburger Open, the Norwegian Open and the Irish Open last December we are the 25th pair which has qualified for the World Cup tournament which is held in China from 5 to 11 August.
Super news you would think, but recently we were informed that the Dutch Badminton Federation only has € 1250 available for each player of the National Team to participate in international tournaments. We believe that participating in a World Championships tournament without a proper preparation is no option, so Samantha and I have decided to go to the Spanish Open in Madrid at our own expense again and to use the € 1250 of the Federation for a partly funding of participation in the US Open and Canadian Open in July. Thus we have secured our preparation for the World Champs but regular participation in this event is now further away than ever. We, and with us our parents as our biggest sponsors, can not afford an extra journey to China and the Federation has no extra money available. A very nasty setback because also the Dutch Olympic Committee is watching what is happening at World Championships events. For them the European’s and World’s, as well as the Olympics, count. This is the stage to show yourself as a Dutch pair and I really don’t understand why the Federation has no extra funds available for such an event.
Now we have two options: either we resign ourselves that despite our qualification we have to stay home or we do everything in our power to get funding. In fact resigning is no option for me. A ticket plus accommodation will cost approximately € 2000 per person, so we need a total amount of about € 4000 which is a lot of money. We are aware of that. But we are athletes who are used to work hard for our ideals so why not work for this amount too. We think of demonstrations or clinics, also across the border in Germany, or advertising messages on our shirts or tracksuits. We need all the help we can get and everything is negotiable. I want to emphasize that playing this event is important for our development and that it will help us to make a step forward in the direction of our common goal: qualification for the Rio Games.
If you consider to contribute financially and help us to participate in the World Championships you may leave a message on this site or send an e mail to info@jorritderuiter.com. If you want to deposit a contribution right away the bank account number is NL81ABNA0508601045 Swift code ABNANL2A on the name of De Ruiter. Please mention WC China and your email address so I can thank you. It would also be a help when you refer your Facebook friends and twitter followers to this article on my website.
Anyone who knows me knows that I would never make a call like this one if it weren’t urgent. So please help us to go to China!