The arena : stadiummk opened its doors for the first time and welcomed the National Badminton Championships last weekend.
This historic sporting event, which took the place the weekend of 8th and 9th February, saw the Championships held in Badminton England’s home town of Milton Keynes for the first time.
The opening of the arena : stadiummk continues the successful development of stadiummk, home to both Milton Keynes Dons Football Club and the DoubleTree by Hilton Milton Keynes.
Pete Winkelman, Chairman of MK Dons and stadiummk is photographed with the Men’s doubles prize winners Chris Adcock and Andy Ellis who defeated the reigning Men’s doubles champions Chris Langridge and Peter Mills.
Pete said of the arena and the event: “It has been very exciting to see the English National Badminton Championships being held at the arena : stadiummk.
“This landmark event was brought to life by the successful partnership of the Badminton England team and the team here at stadiummk. We have a unique and magnificent venue which showcased this historic event.
“Congratulations to all the competitors and winners but also to the audience who made this such a success.”
MK Dons regulars, Jeff and Jo Newall were also in attendance on Finals Day: “After being at the first football match and the first pop concert at the stadium we knew we couldn’t miss the first event in the arena.
“So off we went to the Badminton Finals having never watched or played Badminton in our lives and with no idea what to expect. We were impressed to discover that all the breeze block walls we had previously known in the arena had been transformed and I was able to position my powerchair at the front of the seating to get a real front row view.
“Jeff was delighted that he could follow the games by listening to the shuttlecock hitting the rackets without even needing to rely on the spy glass he uses for football, safe in the knowledge that a stray shuttlecock would do him far less damage than a flying errant football.
“Having spent the previous day watching the Dons win at Walsall, we had a brilliant weekend of live sport and hope we will get to see more live Badminton in MK.”
The arena is a brand new unique 3,420m2 multi use event space positioned over 3 floors and will be welcoming music and sporting events, conferences and exhibitions and parties.
The team includes Dominic Fleming, Business Development Director with Lauren Winkelman, Arena Operations and Fiona O’Hara, Sales & Marketing Co-ordinator and Operations Director, Sue Dawson.
They can be contacted on 01908 622922 or info@stadiummk.com for further information.
