History of Badminton in Gibraltar

Badminton was introduced in Gibraltar by the services personnel in 1958 when they organised the “Gibraltar Command Inter Unit Badminton Cup Tournaments” and the “Gibraltar Command Badminton Championships”.

Between 1958-1967 the Gibraltar Command Inter Unit Badminton Knockout Cup was dominated by the RAF.  The results were as follows:

On the 19th March 1966 Maurice Montegriffo became the first local to reach the “Gibraltar Command Badminton Championships” Singles Final, where he was beaten by Chong. In the same year Harry Ward won all three titles i.e. Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles in the Open Championships.

On the 30th September 1968 the Gibraltar Badminton Association was formed comprising of the following committee:

In 1970 the GBA won the first Open League and Maurice Montegriffo and Harry Ward represented Gibraltar in the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, then known as the British Commonwealth Games.

Following this, the Victoria Stadium Sports Centre was opened in 1976. Prior to this all Open Championships were organised by the Combined Services and all league matches were staged at their venue as it was the only acceptable Badminton Venue on the Rock. As a consequence of the opening of the Victoria Stadium, on 15th May 1977 the Gibraltar Badminton Association organised the first ever Gibraltar Open Championships.

The GBA was elected to the European Badminton Union (EBU) and subsequently the International Badminton Federation (IBF) in 1986 upon which the constitution was re-written in 1987. Since then a distinction was made between the two major tournaments held throughout the year:

1. National Champoinships (for locals and services personnel on the Rock)
2. Open Championships (where players from abroad were invited)
   

You can view past winners of the National Championships in the document below.