Disability Sport Wales was saddened to hear of the passing of Robert James (Jim) Mackay.
Jim was a pioneer of Disability Sport in Wales acting as both Chair and Treasurer of the Wales Amputee and les Autres Sports Association during the 1980’s & 90’s. Jim’s real passion lay with Badminton, himself a former European and World Wheelchair Badminton Champion, he had been involved in the development of the global disability badminton movement since it’s earliest day.
A founder member of the International Badminton Association for the Disabled (IBAD), now the Para-Badminton World Federation (PBWF), Jim had contributed not only to the development of the sport, but classification processes, coach education, and general support of the players within para-badminton and non-disability badminton as well. He gave a significant amount of time to the development and delivery of coach education, working with many coaches nationally and internationally. In 2010, as a testament to his great work for Para-badminton, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) awarded Jim with its "Distinguished Service Award" – and he remains to be the only person in Wales to date, to have been awarded that honour.
Jim was incredibly proud to see Para-Badminton becoming accepted as a full Paralympic sport for the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, and his role in getting the sport there will not be forgotten. Para-Badminton and Wales have lost one of the driving forces in developing the sport, and he was admired and respected for this by many.
Our thoughts are with Jim’s family and friends at this sad time, he will be sadly missed by all those who knew him.
