The BWF World Championships 2017 will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, following a decision by the Badminton World Federation earlier today in Lima, Peru.
Making this announcement, BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer explained the BWF Council has taken this extraordinary and unanimous step after being thoroughly impressed by “the very detailed and technically sound bid” which BADMINTONscotland submitted for the BWF Sudirman Cup 2017.
Having lost out on hosting the latter event to Badminton Australia, the Scottish delegation was pleased to consider an option to stage another prestigious BWF Major Event – the World Championships, which was open for bidding at the same time as the Sudirman Cup but which did not receive appropriate bids.
“It was obvious how much work and thought was invested in the bid which BADMINTONscotland and Glasgow submitted. We were stunned at some of their innovative thinking and the Council felt that, as we still had an option to award the World Championships, we would approach BADMINTONscotland and determine if they would be interested in hosting the World Championships in 2017,” disclosed Høyer, of the bid which proposed the 6,000-seat Emirates Arena as the venue.
“I am pleased to say they were extremely enthusiastic about this prospect and therefore we are able to leave Lima happy to have secured two excellent hosts for top BWF tournaments. It’s truly a win-win situation for everyone – and most importantly, for badminton.”
His sentiments were echoed by BADMINTONscotland Chief Executive Anne Smillie who noted “we put together a superb bid for the Sudirman Cup and our presentation was extremely well received, even though we narrowly lost out to Australia. There is little doubt that the quality of our bid played a significant part in the decision to award these (World) Championships to us”.
“There is a very pleasing symmetry to this announcement, when one recalls that we staged both the Sudirman Cup and the Individual Championships in 1997 and the Sudirman Cup again in 2007. Having the Individual Championships in 2017 will complete another ten year cycle of bringing the most prestigious badminton events to Scotland.
“The return of the World Championships to Scotland is a major coup for BADMINTONscotland and our partners, Glasgow City Council and EventScotland,” she declared.
Smillie said the awarding of the World Championships to Glasgow is the latest major event to be secured for Scotland as a legacy of the 2014 Commonwealth Games and will provide a major platform for the ongoing development of the sport in the coming years.
“The BWF is well aware of the strength of our partnership with Glasgow City Council and with EventScotland and they know from our track record that we will provide a world-class setting and world class organisation for the world’s top players.
“Securing this event will also provide a huge incentive for our fantastic volunteer team, many of whom were involved in this summer’s Commonwealth Games and will be on duty again next week at the Emirates Arena for the Scottish Open Grand Prix.”
Featured image: Members of the BADMINTONscotland and Glasgow delegation are pictured with BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer (third left).
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