Korea’s mixed double Badminton Olympic gold medalist Lee Yong-dae has donated 10 million won ($8,700) to help children in Thailand and Brazil learn badminton.

His gift is the biggest single donation ever made to the Solibad Badminton Without Borders charity. The organization runs projects to help disadvantaged kids around the world improve their lives through sport.

Lee presented the check to Solibad global ambassador Pi Hongyan and the charity’s special ambassador Peter Gade in Seoul last week before the start of the second day of the Korea Badminton Open.

“I am glad I could help Solibad a little bit by giving this money,” said Lee. “This isn’t much, and I wish I could do more for Solibad, but our time off court is limited and we have to focus on the game, especially in an Olympic year. But when I saw the flooding in Thailand recently, that really moved me and I wanted to do something for Thailand and these other projects that Solibad is helping.”

Lee, who is currently ranked No. 2 in the world with his partner Jung Jae-sung, has been the Korean ambassador for Solibad since December 2009.

He has also donated 25 million won to Korea’s Badminton Association for Elementary schools.

“Yong-dae has been very supportive to Solibad,” said Pi Hongyan. “It is great to see that top players like him give their time or money to support projects which involve children around the planet.”

Solibad founder Raphael Sachetat added: “We will dedicate some of this money to the project in Brazil, where children from a violent environment in the townships have been put back on the right tracks and now play competitive badminton. But also it will help us to work on a project to come in Thailand as it was Lee Yong-dae’s wish ― to help children which were affected by the recent flooding. As always, we will make sure that this money is carefully spent.”

Solibad aims to raise funds with the help of the badminton community to help local charitable projects, some of which are badminton related. Current projects include support for orphaned and poor kids in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil and Haiti, and for disabled kids in France.

For more information go to www.solibad.net.

By Kirsty Taylor (kirstyt@heraldcorp.com)