On most weekends at the Aga Khan Hall in Kisumu, the sound of shuttlecocks snapping across nets fills the air. Players arrive from primary schools, secondary schools, universities, and local clubs. Some come with borrowed rackets. Others arrive with national ambitions. What brings them together is badminton and one man’s long standing commitment to the sport.
Apollo John is a badminton player and a passionate sponsor who has quietly become one of the sport’s strongest pillars in the Nyanza region. For the past five years, he has personally sponsored the Nyanza Badminton Open Tournament, covering the cost of the Aga Khan Hall and awarding the best players with cash prizes, medals, and trophies.
In a sporting landscape where attention and funding largely flow to football and athletics, badminton survives here because John chose to invest in it.
“I saw talent but no structure,” he says. “And without structure, talent fades.”
The Nyanza Badminton Open has grown into one of the most significant platforms for the sport in the region. Each year, the tournament attracts more than 200 participants drawn from primary schools, secondary schools, universities, colleges, and senior individual players. For many young athletes, it is their first exposure to organized competition and professional level play.
John’s contribution extends far beyond organizing tournaments. Over the years, he has supported promising players who lacked access to facilities, coaching, and resources. One such player is Phabian Derrick, whom John discovered while he was a student at Rangala Boys High School.
Recognizing his potential, John paid for Derrick’s membership at Aga Khan Hall, provided full playing kits, and funded his coaching both in Kenya and Uganda. The impact was immediate and remarkable. Derrick went on to become the best national high school badminton player in Kenya, ranked number one at the East Africa University Games, won a silver medal at the All Africa University Games, and has consistently remained among Kenya’s top national players.
Derrick’s journey is now cited as proof of what targeted investment and mentorship can achieve. He is not alone. John continues to support several other young players who are training toward elite competition, often covering costs that families and schools cannot afford.
However, sustaining this work has come at a personal cost. Financing venues, prizes, training, equipment, and travel has rested almost entirely on John as an individual. As the tournament expanded, so did the financial burden.
That reality led him to apply for Tujiamini sponsorship, seeking support not to replace his role but to secure the future of the initiative. This year, his work was recognized with a Silver Tujiamini award of KSH 100,000. While modest compared to the scale of his investment, the award affirmed the value of his efforts.
With sustained support, John believes Kisumu and the wider Nyanza region can become a recognized hub for badminton in Kenya and eventually across Africa.
“Talent is everywhere,” he says. “Opportunity is not. If we close that gap, champions will follow.”
Inside the Aga Khan Hall, young players dive, recover, and reset. They play for medals, for recognition, and for the simple love of the game. Few know the full story behind the tournament that brought them there. But every rally carries the imprint of one person’s belief that badminton and the young people who play it are worth investing in.