On Friday, December 17, 2021, a symbolic match of badminton took place on board the International Space Station. It was attended by members of the crew of the ISS and space tourists from Japan – billionaire Yusaka Maesava and his assistant Jozo Hirano. A live broadcast of the match was led by the sports channel “Match!”.
The main idea of the match is to draw attention to an active lifestyle. Participants clarified that they wanted to pay attention to serious demographic challenges, which arise in front of many developed countries, including the Russian Federation. The total population is reduced, even more importantly, it increases the proportion of disabled population. Prevent this negative trend, according to the participants of the match, will help an active lifestyle, which will help strengthen the immune system. During the direct ether, the issues of achievements of Russian manned cosmonautics, physical training of cosmonauts and physical education and sports in the cosmonaut detachment were also discussed.
The initiator of the match was the hero of Russia, the astronaut Roscosmos Alexander Misurnkin, who flew to the ISS as the commander of the 20th expedition of the visit. He consistently pays attention to classes with young people and popularization of an active lifestyle. Thus, in 2017, Misurnkin organized and since then is headed by the Badminton Foundation of the Oryol region.
Badminton was also selected as the most “cosmic” sport. He was included in the system of physical training of astronauts personally Sergei Korolev in 1960. Chairman of the Council of the National Badminton Federation of Russia Andrei Antropov on the air TV channel “Match TV” noted that the Badminton tournaments regularly pass in the star town, including with the participation of NASA representatives.