A voice booms from the speakers, giving a stern "three, two, one" countdown. The lights go out and the court is transformed into what looks like the arena for some futuristic tournament. I have the creeping sense of being in a dystopian scene from "Squid Game." Luckily, this is Shuttle in The Dark, a new badminton club in Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Twin Towers. Here, the nation's most beloved sport is played on a glow-in-the-dark court, complete with neon-accented equipment (including mats and nets that are Badminton World Federation tournament grade) and accompanied by thumping music.
"This isn't like regular badminton," says Irina Inozemtseva, the club's co-founder and a former professional player who has lived in Malaysia for 12 years. "We want people to come out of their comfort zones," she says. "Here you forget about your problems."
