10 000 rackets for Russian soldiers

After Russian President Medvedev and his Prime Minister Vladimir Putin where shown playing badminton together on Medvedev’s official Website, it was reported that the Russian President ordered over 10000 rackets and few thousands of shuttlecocks for its Army.

“Playing badminton uses the same muscles as throwing grenades, knives or other objects,” Izvestia Newspaper quoted the head of the ministry’s physical preparation department, Colonel Alexander Shchepelev, as saying. “That’s why this sport is very good for all servicemen without exception. Following the shuttlecock trains the eye muscles, strengthens the cardiovascular system and develops reaction speed.”

The story doesn’t say whether the Russian badminton shuttlers will get an extra help from the government to secure their spots in the upcoming Olympics, but this story certainly had created a real buzz in Russia.

The article, however was then denied by the Russian Officials in a later comment, while the Izvestia Editors sticked to their positions “”The defence ministry is a very closed organisation and deny any information that is not got through official channels,” said the report’s author, Denis Telmanov. He added that two other sources had confirmed the existence of the badminton plan. “We know it’s true. There are courts. There are rackets.”  he told UK’s  Guardian.