Elected in second position in constituency no.20, Beau Bassin-Petite Rivière, on November 10, Karen Foo Kune-Bacha is one of four women from the Alliance of Change to have been sworn in as Junior Minister.
The former high-level badista will be attached to a ministry where she should be comfortable since she will be alongside the new occupant of the Youth and Sports ministry, Deven Nagalingum. At 42 years old, Karen Foo Kune-Bacha is no stranger to the sporting world. Born in May 1982, she notably left her mark on Mauritian badminton, she who came from a family of enthusiasts of this sport. Crowned champion of Mauritius twice, she notably participated in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing and the Commonwealth Games in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Her best performances at international level came in 2006 and 2007 during the championships. of Africa where she won the silver medals respectively in the women’s team tournament and in the women’s doubles.
Having hung up her racket, she continued to work in the sporting field and became, in 2013, one of the athletes’ representatives within the Mauritian Olympic Committee (COM). Already at that time, she had started to get involved at the social level, creating in 2010 the “Badminton pou zanfan” association which worked for the integration of children through the practice of badminton and education. Which subsequently led him to engage in the political field within the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM), becoming a municipal councilor of Beau Bassin-Rose Hill.
Elected for the first time in the 2019 general elections with her MMM running mates at No. 20, Rajesh Bhagwan and Franco Quirin, this year, her commitment to serving the Mauritian people will take another turn with this position of Junior Minister. “It’s a great opportunity to serve the country and put my abilities as a former sportswoman, having had high-level experience for nearly 20 years, at the disposal of sport and Mauritian youth,” supports Karen Foo Kune-Bacha.
By traveling in the field in recent years, she was able to observe that “the potential is everywhere with many young talents but they have no supervision or resources. Another important point is the lack of women’s sport in general. The statistics clearly prove it and these are things that must be remedied. she explains.
If these are sectors that are close to her heart and for the moment, the work with the new Minister of Sports, Deven Nagalingum, has not yet been precisely defined, Karen Foo Kune-Bacha maintains that it will affect two aspects as a priority, the first being the fight against the scourges of society and the second health which “influence the well-being and quality of life of the population.”
