Abbreviation | BWF |
---|---|
Formation | 5 July 1934 |
Founded at | Cheltenham, United Kingdom |
Type | Sports federation |
Headquarters | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
Membership | 201 member associations |
President | Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen |
Revenue (2019) | US$25.79 million [1] |
Expenses (2019) | US$28.27 million [1] |
Website | www |
The Badminton World Federation, aka BWF, is the international governing body for the sport of badminton approved by the International Olympic Committee. It was founded on 5 July 1934 as the International Badminton Federation with nine member nations: Canada, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. In 1981, the IBF merged with the World Badminton Federation, and on 24 September 2006, at the Extraordinary General Meeting in Madrid, the name of the organization was changed to Badminton World Federation. [2]
When the BWF was founded, its head office was located in Cheltenham, UK. It was then relocated to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on October 1, 2005. [3] Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen is the current president. [4] The BWF has 201 member nations around the world, organized into 5 continental confederations. [5]
The BWF works in co-operation with regional governing bodies to promote and develop the sport of badminton around the world, they are: [6]
Region | Confederation | Members | |
---|---|---|---|
Asia | Badminton Asia (BA) | 43 | |
Europe | Badminton Europe (BE) | 54 | |
Americas | Badminton Pan America (BPA) | 37 | |
Africa | Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) | 44 | |
Oceania | Badminton Oceania (BO) | 16 | |
Total | 194 |
Below is the list of presidents since 1934: [7]
No. | Years | Name | Country |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 1934–1955 | George Alan Thomas | United Kingdom |
2 | 1955–1957 | John Plunkett-Dillon | Ireland |
3 | 1957–1959 | Brigadier Bruce Hay | United Kingdom |
4 | 1959–1961 | A. C. J. van Vossen | Netherlands |
5 | 1961–1963 | John McCallum | Ireland |
6 | 1963–1965 | Nils Peder Kristensen | Denmark |
7 | 1965–1969 | David Bloomer | United Kingdom |
8 | 1969–1971 | Humphrey Chilton | United Kingdom |
9 | 1971–1974 | Ferry Sonneville | Indonesia |
10 | 1974–1976 | Stuart Wyatt | United Kingdom |
11 | 1976–1981 | Stellan Mohlin | Sweden |
12 | 1981–1984 | Craig Reedie | United Kingdom |
13 | 1984–1986 | Poul-Erik Nielsen | Denmark |
14 | 1986–1990 | Ian Palmer | New Zealand |
15 | 1990–1993 | Arthur Jones | United Kingdom |
16 | 1993–2001 | Lu Shengrong | China |
17 | 2001–2005 | Korn Dabbaransi | Thailand |
18 | 2005–2013 | Kang Young-Joong | South Korea |
19 | 2013– | Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen | Denmark |
The BWF World Ranking and BWF World Junior Ranking are introduced to determine the strength of the players. BWF World Ranking is used for determining the qualification for entry and seeding for the BWF-sanctioned tournament. The points awarded is based on the final results of each tournament participated for the past 52 weeks. Junior Ranking consists of players under 19 years old.
The BWF regularly organises seven major international badminton events and two events for para-badminton:
Major tournaments:
Other major tournaments:
Para major tournaments:
Event(s) are no longer held regularly:
Grade 2 tournaments, known as BWF World Tour was sanctioned into six levels with different world ranking points awarded, as order they are:
The events that were formerly held from 2007 to 2017 are:
Grade 3 tournaments, known as Continental Circuit was sanctioned into three levels with different world ranking points awarded, as order they are:
The BWF bestows special honours onto players, umpires, sponsors, and other individuals for their achievement in badminton or for their contributions to badminton. [9]
Over the years, the organization has had several logos. Originally it used the IBF logo. As the BWF, a new logo was adopted in 2007. [10] In 2012 it adopted a new, streamlined logo. [11]
The BWF and Octagon developed a rule that women badminton players must wear dresses or skirts "to ensure attractive presentation." It was included in the official rulebook in 2011, but was dropped before it was supposed to go into effect in 2012. [12] [13]
Lee Hyun-il is a former badminton player from South Korea. He is a former World and Asian Championships bronze medalist, and was part of South Korean team that won the 2003 Sudirman Cup as well the gold medals at the 2002 and 2014 Asian Games.
Alvent Yulianto Chandra is an Indonesian badminton player. Born in Glenmore, Banyuwangi, East Java, he has been playing badminton since he was 10 years old in a club named Suryanaga Gudang Garam Surabaya.
Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen is the current president of the Badminton World Federation and a retired Danish badminton player who won major international singles titles in the 1990s, and ranks among Denmark's badminton greats. In 2014, Høyer became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), he has been a board member of the Danish Olympic Committee since 2005.
Rafael Candra Wijaya is an Indonesian badminton player.
Dong Jiong is a Chinese badminton player who ranked among the world's men's singles elite in the mid and late 1990s.
Carsten Mogensen is a former badminton player from Denmark. He was the gold medalist at the 2015 European Games, two time European champions winning in 2012 and 2017, and the silver medalist at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Mogensen was a former world number 1 in the BWF World ranking together with Mathias Boe.
Mathias Boe is a Danish former badminton player. He was the gold medalist at the 2015 European Games, two time European champions winning in 2012 and 2017, and the silver medalist at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Boe was a part of the 2016 Thomas Cup winning team.
Vladimir Alexandrovich Ivanov is a Russian badminton player. He was the champion at the 2014 and 2021 European Championships, and also the 2016 All England Open partnering with Ivan Sozonov. They made history by becoming the first Russian pair to win the men's doubles title in each of those events. Ivanov competed at the 2012, 2016, and 2020 Summer Olympics.
Ivan Andreyevich Sozonov is a Russian badminton player. He competed for Russia at the 2012, 2016, and 2020 Summer Olympics. His current partner is Vladimir Ivanov. The duo's victories at the 2014 European Championships and 2016 All England Open rendered them as the first Russians to win the men's doubles in each of those tournaments.
Takeshi Kamura is a Japanese badminton player. He was selected to join the national team in 2013 and retired in 2021. Kamura was part of the national team that won the 2014 Thomas Cup. He captured his first Superseries title at the 2016 Hong Kong Open, and reached a career high of world number 2 in the men's doubles partnered with Keigo Sonoda in January 2017.
Keigo Sonoda is a Japanese badminton player. He affiliated with the YKK AP Yatsushiro, before joining the Tonami team in 2010. Sonoda was part of the national team that won the 2014 Thomas Cup. He captured his first Superseries title at the 2016 Hong Kong Open, and reached a career high of world number 2 in the men's doubles partnered with Takeshi Kamura in January 2017.
Lee So-hee is a South Korean badminton player. She won the women's doubles title at the 2017 All England Open tournament. She also helped the Korean national team to win the world team championships at the 2017 Sudirman Cup. She reached a career high of world no. 1 in women's doubles on 29 October 2024 partnered with Baek Ha-na. For her achievements in 2017, Lee who affiliated with the Incheon International Airport team, was awarded as the best player of the year by the Badminton Korea Association.
Huang Dongping is a Chinese badminton player. She is the mixed doubles Olympic Champion at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and was three-time mixed doubles Asian Champion, winning in 2018, 2019 and 2024.
Li Junhui is a Chinese badminton player. He was the gold medalist at the 2018 World Championships in the men's doubles event partnered with Liu Yuchen, two times won the gold medal at the Asian Championships in 2017 and 2018, and was a silver medalist at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Li was part of the national team that won the 2018 Asian Games, 2018 Thomas Cup, and 2019 Sudirman Cup.
Choi Sol-gyu is a South Korean badminton player. He was a part of the Korean national team that won the 2017 Sudirman Cup.
Kim Astrup Sørensen is a Danish badminton player. He was the men's doubles gold medalists at the 2018 European Championships and the 2023 European Games with his partner Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. He also won the bronze medal at the World Championships in 2021 and later a silver medal in 2023. Astrup joined the Denmark winning team at the 2016 Thomas Cup in Kunshan, China, where he and his teammates beating Indonesia 3–2 in the final. Together with Rasmussen, he reached a career high of World number 5 in September 2018.
Isabel Lohau is a German badminton player, specializing in doubles play. She started playing badminton at her hometown Hersbruck in 2001, and in 2010 she joined the Germany national badminton team. She along with national team won the 2011 European Junior Championships and 2012 European Women's Team Championships. In the individual event, Lohau also won the bronze medals at the 2010 World Junior Championships in the mixed doubles, 2011 European Junior Championships in the mixed and girls' doubles, and at the 2018 and 2021 European Championships in the mixed doubles. She represented her country competing at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Mathias Christiansen is a Danish badminton player who joined the national team in July 2013. He was the silver medalists in the 2018 and 2024 European Championships, and also the bronze medalists in the 2016, 2017, and 2021 European Championships, as well at the 2023 European Games. He was part of Danish winning team at the 2016 Thomas Cup. He competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Wakana Nagahara is a Japanese badminton player. She is a two-time world champion in the women's doubles. Nagahara attended Aomori Yamada High School, and was part of the Japanese national junior team that won the bronze medals at the 2013, 2014 Asian and 2014 World Junior Championships. She won her first senior international title at the 2014 Smiling Fish International in the women's doubles event partnered with Mayu Matsumoto. In national events, she plays for the Hokuto Bank team. Nagahara was awarded as the 2018 Most Improved Player of the Year by the BWF together with her partner Mayu Matsumoto. They obtained the honour after winning the 2018 BWF World Championships title and improving their ranking from 14 to 3 in the world. On 30 April 2019, she reached a career high as the women's doubles world No. 1.
The 2008 BWF Season was the overall badminton circuit organized by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) for the 2008 badminton season to publish and promote the sport. Besides the BWF World Championships, BWF promotes the sport of Badminton through an extensive worldwide program of events. These events have various purposes according to their level and territory in which they are held but those events owned by BWF seek to showcase the Sport via the widest possible quality television broadcast and build the fanbase of the Sport throughout the World.