BWF against Wembley venue
News 9:11 AM
KUALA LUMPUR: The Badminton World Federation (BWF) have opposed a decision by London 2012 Olympic organisers to stage the competitions at the Wembley Arena, arguing that it was too far from the Olympic Village.
The BWF Council said yesterday that at a meeting in Bali last week, they came to the unanimous conclusion that the they were not at this time ready to give the green light to the proposal.
“The Council firmly believed that moving badminton to the Wembley Arena implies that badminton will once again, after Barcelona, Atlanta, Athens and Beijing, be played in a stand-alone venue,” they said.
The BWF said that they favoured the original venue at Greenwich Arena, nearer to the heart of the Games, and that they were unhappy with the change of plan by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG).
“We have received comprehensive material from LOCOG on the proposal, but the travel time, in particular, for the athletes is very high,” the BWF president, Kang Young Joong, said in a statement.
“We furthermore find that the assurances provided by LOCOG to reduce this to a reasonable figure are still insufficient.”
The Olympic organisers said last month that they would scrap plans for a new temporary venue to host badminton and rhythmic gymnastics as a cost-cutting measure.
The BWF said that they were concerned that hosting the badminton at a stand-alone venue would deter new fans from watching the event.
“We are of the opinion that this will affect the Olympic experience for players and spectators compared with the initial set-up,” they said.
The BWF said that they had appointed their vice-president for Olympic relations, Gregory Verpoorten, to “vigorously engage” in negotiations over the issue and hoped to find a solution to endorse at their next board meeting in March. – AFP
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 9:11 AM.
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