The Badminton World Federation and Special Olympics International have published a global development strategy ©Getty Images

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) and Special Olympics International (SOI) have published their global development strategy to help grow badminton for people with intellectual disabilities.

It follows on from the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two organisations last year.

There are estimated to be more than 370,000 Special Olympics badminton players across the world, with the organisations saying, an additional 62,000 Special Olympics athletes with and without intellectual disabilities took up the sport in 2018 and 2019.

There are four main areas that the new strategy will focus on; development, events, partnerships and communication.

The strategy is set to be implemented with assistance from BWF and SOI regional and national partners.

"In line with our motto that badminton is a sport for all, we are committed to providing avenues of participation for everyone," said BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer.

There are estimated to be more than 370,000 Special Olympics badminton players across the world ©Special Olympics
There are estimated to be more than 370,000 Special Olympics badminton players across the world ©Special Olympics

"This strategy will hopefully foster the establishment of more platforms to allow children and adults with intellectual disabilities to experience badminton all the time.

"We have enjoyed great success collaborating with SOI over the past 12 months and numbers suggest the uptake of badminton among Special Olympics athletes is increasing globally."

The MoU has already fostered 16 new partnerships between national badminton bodies and the respective national Special Olympics programme.

Five of those new partnerships - in Fiji, Guam, Papua New Guinea, Lithuania and Norway - saw badminton added to the national Special Olympics programme.