BIRMINGHAM, England — National badminton player Samuel Ricketts says he is proud to be named as a team captain for Jamaica’s contingent at the Commonwealth Games and is hoping that his and the team’s efforts in Birmingham will help to inspire growth in the sport and among the players.

Star netball goalkeeper Shamera Sterling is the other captain of the Jamaican team.

Ricketts won his contest against South Africa’s Caden Kakora 2-0 (21-14, 21-9) in his Mixed Team men’s singles match at the National Exhibition Centre yesterday, before teaming up with Joel Angus to get the better of Jarred Elliott and Robert Summers 2-0 (21-18, 21-17).

The Jamaicans, however, fell 3-2 in the match with 2-0 defeats to Angus and Katherine Wynter in the mixed doubles (15-21, 15-21), Tahlia Richardson (12-21, 16-21), who lost to Johanita Scholtz in the women’s singles, and the team of Wynter and Richardson who went down 15-21, 16-21 to the South African pair of Scholtz and Diedre Jordaan.

“Being named the captain of the team really means a lot. I was really honoured and really surprised, to be honest. I’m really elated to be leading the team and just to kind of set an example of what the standard is — the Jamaican standard of passion for the game,” Ricketts said.

“It is great to be leading the team and to be just standing alongside all of these wonderful athletes. It’s an honour, it’s a pleasure, and hopefully I can bring good value to Jamaica. It’s definitely a big deal for badminton.”

Ricketts is hoping that the team of badminton players here will make the most of the opportunity to compete at this level.

“I hope, especially my teammates, you know, they will see what level is required — like in terms of training — and just be able to take that back home in their hearts, and to share that with their training camps, and really set that standard so that everyone is feeding into the same culture,” Ricketts said.

“How are we pushing our sport in the country? It starts with us, it starts with the coaches, it starts with the programme and the structure. And, the Jamaica Badminton Association is doing a good job in trying to get us in the best position to succeed so I think this is a good opportunity,” he added.

Ricketts, who will also compete in the men’s singles competition which begins next Wednesday, says he is targeting progress to the third round in that category.

“My personal goal is to reach the third round, and at that point I would probably play a top seed and just try to push them and see what level I could get at. But I think I have a decent first match and then my second match, should I advance, is against a top guy in Byron Yang, who I played at the last Commonwealth Games,” he said.

“He’s a really good player and so I’ll just have to rise to that occasion a bit earlier than I expected. But, that’s how it is at these competitions — the draw is what it is, so I’m looking forward to that, looking forward to playing doubles with Joelle and mixed doubles with Tahlia, and going out there and just really pushing,” said Ricketts.

For Ricketts, who is balancing his career with his postgraduate studies at the University of Warwick, the experience and competition in Birmingham will serve as a good platform for his efforts to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“I’ve done one year and I have one more year left, and so that year I will be training full-time and then after that, I’ll be looking to try and qualify for the Olympic Games. And before that, we have CAC Games and the Pan American Games so there are a couple of milestones along the way and I am looking to good success in those tournaments,” he stated.