In about 24 hours time, badminton will have a new world record to its name.

On Sunday, 5 June, 2011, more than 60 cities and thousands of badminton fans across the world will “gather” for the largest badminton flashmobyet - including Barcelona, Spain.

This initiative is the brainchild of Raphael Sachetat, a French photojournalist and the founder of a young independent badminton charity foundation, Solibad.

“This is a world’s first as it has never happened in sports before”, said Sachetat.

“We are proud that Badminton is the sport [that is] able to bring together so many different people, from so many countries, who are not only badminton fans but who also believe that what we do at Solibad can make a difference.” 

The primary objective of Solibad is to raise funds within the global community of badminton with professional players as ambassadors. The monies raised will be donated to a variety of local projects, some of which are badminton related. 

‘Solibad Day’, as the flashmob event is proverbially known, will see some of the world’s top badminton players, such as Pi Hongyan, Peter Gade, Greysia Polii, Koo Kien Keat, Nathan Robertson lead a badminton routine in various iconic places in the world.

From Sydney’s Opera House, Singapore’s Merlion Park, Copenhagen’s Axeltorv, the London Eye to Los Angeles’ Lake Hollywood Park, participants of the flashmob will appear in ‘rainbow’ colours resembling the Foundation’s logo as a statement of solidarity. 

“We will then be sending a very strong message that we can be united behind the same goal [such as] to help underprivileged children all over the world”, said Sachetat, “but also have (sic) fun while collecting funds for these projects!”