Maharaj is new Badminton Association president
2026-03-29 - 23:54
Devanand Maharaj is the new president of the T&T Badminton Association after prevailing over his counterparts, Janine Reyes and former badminton ace Anil Seepaul, in a hotly contested election on Sunday at Presentation College, Chaguanas. Of the 28 votes up for grabs, Maharaj, a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) by profession, received 15, while Seepaul earned seven and Reyes six. In his celebratory speech, Maharaj expressed gratitude for the opportunity to lead the sport, saying: “I look forward to working with all the different clubs and stakeholders to take badminton to a new level.” He told the media his first assignment will be tying up loose ends from the previous executive. “Our first assignment is to complete some of the outstanding matters left by the outgoing board with regard to Ministry funding. We have some additional information to provide. We have some outstanding documents to be supplied to the BWF, that is Badminton World Federation. In order to continue being able to be supported and to get grants, and so forth. We also have to do a technical plan, but one of the main things will be having to appoint a technical director for the position,” Maharaj explained. Maharaj, who promised to secure a home for badminton and provide insurance for players and coaches, will be supported by a slate that includes Navin Gayapersad. Gayapersad, a former president who was previously replaced by the outgoing Chandrika Ramsubhag, who opted not to seek re-election, returns as vice president after receiving 26 votes. Rounding out the executive are Candace Bhola (secretary, 13 votes), Darien Khan (assistant secretary, 16 votes), and Sharon Rampersad (treasurer, 15 votes). Dharm Pal and Wilfred Fullerton will serve as trustees after being elected unopposed with 26 and 27 votes, respectively. According to Maharaj, “ We are looking to achieve podium finishes in our regional tournament, our Premier Tournament, which is the Pan American Games, both senior and junior tournaments,” Maharaj said. “So we are looking to invest heavily in our training programme. We understand that there are some challenges regarding funding and venues. We have some ideas on how we could probably overcome these things. We have asked the members of the clubs to support us in terms of providing coaches.” He added, “We are looking to have a foreign coach come in so we could do some knowledge transfer, high-intensity coaching with our local coaches, as well as some of the more junior coaches. “We will be investing heavily in that coaching area and the development of players. We plan to identify a clear pathway for all the players, where we could do an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses, and what is required to bring them so that we could finish on the podium in these tournaments.”