Havana - The World Badminton Federation's Distinguish Order will be given to the founder and fosterer of the discipline in Cuba, Gervacio Miguel Diaz, during the Federation's annual gala, as confirmed by the Cuban sports executive himself here Wednesday.

'The recognition granted by the Federation (mainly as a Cuban) is because this sport did not exist in Cuba before 1959, and now we are keeping a respectable international performance,' Gervacio Miguel Diaz said in an interview to Prensa Latina.

Born in 1942, a founder of Cuba's National Institute for Sports and Physical Education (INDER) in 1961 and graduated at the Manuel Fajardo Havana Physical Education and Culture University, where he works as an Auxiliary Professor, Diaz is now a methodologist in the sport in the aforementioned high education center.

Few hours before departing to Bangkok, Thailand, where the gala will be celebrated, Diaz said he was surprised that he was invited to such a ceremony.

'I think I am the first Caribbean and Latin American sport specialist in receiving the Distinguished Service Order. This constitutes a personal commitment with the sport, and with my country,' he stated.

When this athletic modality was officially included in the Olympic Games calendar in Barcelona in 1992, Inder incorporated it into its high performance program and entrusted it with the mission of promoting a national preselection.

According to Díaz, a special recognition is deserved by former president of the Cuban Olympic Committee, José Ramón Fernández, whose support for this sport has been permanent.

Diaz is the creator of the International Giraldilla Tournament in Havana, one of the oldest badminton competitions in the region, which first edition was in 2000, and will reach its 20th edition in 2019.