Maldivian sister act seeks to advance sport at home and rankings internationally

Twin sisters from Asia's smallest country harbor big dreams of making the Maldives a bastion of badminton.

The archipelago of more than 1,000 islands is known internationally as a paradise vacation destination and is also growing a reputation for such activities as scuba diving, surfing and beach volleyball — that is, primarily noncompetitive leisure sports. But twins Nabeeha and Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq are working to add badminton to their homeland's attractions.

The sisters, who are making their second Asian Games appearance together in Hangzhou, have signed up to play all the sport's team, singles and doubles events at the 19th Asiad.

"Sports like badminton are gaining traction now (in the Maldives) because we've been competing at this level so people could see it," Nabaaha said after the Maldives' women's team's 3-0 quarterfinal loss to the Republic of Korea on Friday.

"We actually didn't really think that we could play on this platform here like at the Asian Games or the Olympics when we started. It was once a dream that we never thought would come true, yet here we are ...that's quite an impressive improvement to be honest."

Nabaaha became the first female Maldivian badminton player to make it to the Olympics at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

However, although the sisters are up-and-coming, the gap between them and the world's elite shuttlers remains vast at the moment, as underlined by their respective straight-set losses to the ROK's reigning world champion, An Se-young, and the 18th-ranked Kim Ga-eun in the quarterfinals.

Yet Nabeeha hailed Hangzhou as an opportunity to make their presence known.

"It's not negative pressure," Nabeeha said of their busy schedule in Hangzhou. "It brings a positive sort of spotlight ... Although it's just me and my sister, we are really trying to bring badminton up in our country."

Nobody else in their family was athletic. The twins, however, were interested in team sports from very young ages. They later became interested in badminton and began training seriously around age 15.

"We were like, OK, maybe this is something we can pursue as a career going forward, and that's just how we started," Nabeeha recalled.

Sooner than expected, their progress took them to their first overseas tournament, in the entry-level Badminton World Federation International Challenge series, in 2017, followed by their doubles debut at the 2018 Asiad.

Their rise to the international stage has prompted support from the Maldives' national badminton association and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment. An eight-court training venue has been built in the capital, Male, to facilitate the national program and encourage more young people to pick up rackets.

"We really try to bring more attention from Maldivians to the sport so that we can get more support in terms of facilities," Nabeeha said.

The duo has found that being twins doesn't always translate to synchrony.

"It's quite a unique experience to be competing with your sister as your partner, because we kind of struggled sometimes to stay between the lines of professional and personal relationships," said Nabaaha.

Nabeeha explained: "We do have a sort of chemistry that we wouldn't have with anybody else. We also have the sister dynamic on court, and sometimes we argued about it a little bit, going like 'that's your shot. No, no, that's your shot'.

"But it's been really amazing playing with my twin sister because we've always had each other's backs throughout our careers. I think it really gave us a chance to develop as a competitive pair."

After a quality drill against the sport's powerhouses at the Asiad, the greater battle for the sisters is their path to the Paris Olympics next year.

According to international governing body rules, they must amass enough points on the BWF Race to Paris Ranking list to reach the top 250 or higher in their own continental region by the deadline of April 30,2024, to qualify for the Olympics. Results at world and Asian championships, and BWF circuit tournaments at all levels, count toward the rankings.

With an insufficient number of Maldivian teammates at their level, the sisters expect to improve their game fast enough by training with, and competing against, more experienced international opponents during the remainder of the qualification window.

"The level is quite different within our team," said Nabeeha. "We would really like to do a training camp somewhere else, where we can get (competition) partners. Nevertheless, we will go all out to try to make it to Paris. That's the focus for us."