Badminton powerhouse Sanikiluaq to send 4 players to Arctic Winter Games
Coach sees good things ahead for squad at games that open March 8
From left, badminton players Devon Kowcharlie, Nickolai Cookie and Nista Crow, and volleyball player Andrew Qavvik, with Sappa Cookie who coaches both sports. They, along with badminton player Harley Kowcharlie, are from Sanikiluaq and will join Team Nunavut at the Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse in March. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
There are still many jumps, squats and pushups Sanikiluaq badminton aficionados need to do before they head to Whitehorse to represent Nunavut at the Arctic Winter Games.
“I’m very proud,” said Nista Crow, 15, after a sweaty two-hour training session at Paatsaali High School on a blustery Monday evening in mid-January.
He started playing badminton when he was 12, just to make friends. Now, he’s one of four badminton players from Sanikiluaq who will head to Whitehorse to represent Nunavut in the North’s biggest sporting event.
The Arctic Winter Games will run from March 8 to 15 in the Yukon capital with eight teams from regions across the Arctic competing in 20 different sports.
In addition to Nunavut and Nunavik, the other participating teams are from Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, northern Alberta, Greenland, and the Sápmi region of Scandinavia as well as Russia’s Kola Peninsula. They’ll face off in sports as diverse as table tennis, archery, basketball and snowshoeing.
To earn a spot on Team Nunavut, the Sanikiluaq athletes had to first win the territorial championship in December. Pangnirtung’s team placed second and Iqaluit’s came third.
Of the eight Nunavut badminton players who will head to the games, half are from Sanikiluaq: Crow, Nickolai Cookie, and Devon Kowcharlie and Harley Kowcharlie. The community will also send volleyball player Andrew Qavvik to the competition.
All of the athletes have been practising three times a week since the start of 2026.
Sanikiluaq has a long tradition of producing good badminton players, said boys’ coach Sappa Cookie, pointing to the half-dozen pennants on the gym wall that celebrate being named Nunavut’s team of the year six times in the past 10 years.
The only time they didn’t hold that title was in the three pandemic years from 2019-20 to 2022-23, and then in 2024-25.
Cookie is himself an experienced badminton player. He started playing in 2012 and has coached at the games since 2022.
“It’s a fun game,” he said.
The sport also helps to keep Sanikiluaq teenagers busy even in winter when most outdoor activities are unavailable, Cookie said.
“It helps to calm your mind — it’s a mental health thing.”
Cookie figures the team has a good chance of winning in Whitehorse.
Regardless of the result, athletes always come back as “heroes” after the Arctic Winter Games.
“I mean, there is always pressure and it would be nice to win, but I’m sure the boys will have fun whatever happens,” Cookie said.
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