Mizoram has a rich history of Badminton. Even before the formation of its state association in 1980, a well documented tournament had already taken place in 1951. Some even say that it was as early as 1920 that the first competitive tournament was played.

Fast forward a few decades and badminton saw a tremendous growth in the 90’s with many badminton halls coming up in the city and the villages. Now it is undeniably one of the most popular game in Mizoram.

During its formative years in the 80’s and 90’s players had to rely on equipments like silvers, headley and shuttles were in the name of rabar, winston, ashoka, arrowflight, guide etc. DODO shuttle cocks saw a huge growth and advanced booking had to be made with the local dealer to get hands on one of them.

Yonex racquets started to come in larger demand during this period but yonex shuttlecock was not in demand and was not used in any tournaments hosted by the state association. This was roughly between the year 2000-2010. An agreement was made between the state association and Victor in 2011 and this made a small but signicant impact.

The agreement was terminated in 2014 and the significant change that happened was on the type of shuttle cock used. during this time Yonex started to make a small but insignificant impact.

The period between 1945 and 1960 was mockingly called the baby boom era due to the high birth rate. during this time around 65 million babies were born in the US. Yonex Boom was also about to happen in Mizoram badminton. With the termination of the agreement with Victor the State Association and Yonex came up with and agreement which was very favorable for the YONEX BOOM.

Within a short span of time Yonex became the dominant force in the market, pushing out the likes of Li Ning who were just about to make an impact in the market. Different factors may contribute to the sudden growth of Yonex in Mizoram. One of the largest factors was the agreement with the State Association which has made it the official supplier of equipments and shuttles for all the tournaments under the association, which propeled the popularity and necessity of using Yonex shuttles to new heights.

During the year 2016-17 a total of nine tournaments were organised under the state association. To compete sucessfully in all these tournaments one must have proper training with the specified shuttles. This continiuos use led to the familairity and love for the product. So hats off to Yonex for tying up with the right people.

Gopichand's visit and the talks of setting up grassroot centres and High altitude training centre by the joined effort of TATA TRUSTS, Gopichand Academy, State Govt and State Association shows the importance for Yonex to have a higher presence and influence in the state to maximize its market position.

The partnership of all these guardians of the game will hopefully produce world champions.