Therefore, workshops are often held in tandem with events and these forums aim to increase the complement of classifiers or to upgrade the skills of BWF referees, umpires and technical delegates so they can also officiate in Para-badminton tournaments. In another parallel, competitors voted in their first-ever BWF Para-Badminton Athletes' Commission last year to represent their interest.

Badminton World Federation President Poul-Erik Høyer is leading Para-badminton's campaign to get the sport included at Tokyo 2020 ©BWF

In Høyer's view, the campaign for a place within the highest echelons of Para-sports competition is an obligation which BWF must fulfil to its constituents with impairments.

"As the global guardians of all forms of badminton, it is our duty to advance the most compelling and well-thought-out case we can for the IPC's consideration," he reasoned.

"In 2012, we marked 20 years since badminton's admission into the Olympic Games in Barcelona - a step of paramount significance for our sport. It is time we make a similar step within the Paralympic Movement and in the 80th year of the BWF, we would be honoured to be included in the Paralympic Family."

Increasing awareness of and interest in the sport globally - Para-badminton content on BWF's YouTube channel has notched more than 260,000 views in the past 20 months - has been another heartening signal that things are indeed moving in the right direction.

"It's an impressive sporting spectacle that I believe can add value to any multi-sports environment," stated Høyer, who is "quietly confident" this is Para-badminton's time.

Switzerland's Sonja Haesler is among many players hoping that Para-badminton will make its debut on the Paralympic programme at Tokyo 2020 ©BWf

Athletes such as Sonja Haesler hope his presidential intuition is right.

This Swiss Para-badminton player has a dream to take her participation in what she calls the "perfect sport" to another level.

"I really hope we are going to be part of the Paralympics. It's the really big wish of every sportsman and sportswoman and I would like to be a part of it once," declared the wheelchair competitor.

Hers is among the testimonies of the transforming power of sport, especially in circumstances where simple, everyday tasks often require extraordinary effort or would be impossible without external assistance.

Para-badminton has given athletes with an impairment hope, independence, dignity, opportunity and courage and they play it with the same passion and tenacity as their badminton peers who compete at the highest level.

Now, they too want that chance of playing at the pinnacle of sport - in a Paralympic Games - and having gold, silver or bronze dangling from their necks. Hearing their national anthem would be pretty good too.

"I found that badminton was my passion and it's a sport I could master to the highest level, despite my disability," recalled Tay Wei Ming of Singapore regarding his introduction to Para-badminton.

"I played other sports but badminton was the one that truly inspired me. I hope by 2020 I would get to take part in the Paralympics."

Singapore's Tay Wei Ming claims that he has been inspired by Para-badminton ©YouTube

Cintya Oliveira of Brazil mirrored these sentiments, noting it's the sport she "really enjoyed the most".

"I play, practise and [it] is really tiring, but I can't get enough of para-badminton. So it wasn't me who chose Para-badminton but it was Para-badminton who chose me!"

An overjoyed and proud Sanjeev Kumar returned home to India last November with a medal from the BWF Para-Badminton World Championships.

"Impossible is not getting in my life...everything is possible for me," he said as he prepared to leave Dortmund, Germany, where the 9th championships were held.

"It is the first time to go to a World Championships and I got a medal. My family are waiting to see my medal."

Perhaps, six years from now, there may be similar inspirational declarations by other Para-badminton pioneers, bearing medals proudly from their first forays into the Paralympic Games.

Gayle Alleyne has worked in media/communications for 25 years, starting in her homeland Barbados. She has worked on four Summer Olympic Games and other major sporting events, including the Indian Premier League. Since summer 2012, she has been the Communications Manager for the Badminton World Federation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.