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LONDON 2012 - No green light for Wembley, yet!

Posted by Lucas Liau News 9:10 AM

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) Council at its meeting in Bali, Indonesia on Friday 27 November came to the unanimous conclusion that the BWF was not at this time ready to give the “green light” on the proposal from LOCOG to host badminton at the Wembley Arena.

The decision was made after extensive deliberations by Council and it concluded that BWF was not happy with LOCOG’s change of commitment to host the badminton competition at the Greenwich Arena, an arrangement which the BWF had supported earlier.

BWF was looking forward to be in the Greenwich Arena location and to enjoy the benefit of being closer to the “heart” of the Olympic Games. 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 standalone venue.

“We are of the opinion that this will affect the Olympic experience for players and spectators compared with the initial setup. Thus, the BWF Council requested more investigations to be made on the proposal,” said Badminton World Federation President Dr Kang Young Joong.

“The Olympic Games is the pinnacle of sporting achievement and the BWF owes our athletes and its Members the responsibility to showcase badminton to the media and the world in the best possible way” added Dr Kang.

“We have received comprehensive material from LOCOG on the proposal, but the travel time in particular for the athletes is very high. We furthermore find that the assurances provided by LOCOG to reduce this to a reasonable figure are still insufficient”.

Dr Kang, however, expressed that BWF will continue to discuss solutions in good faith with both IOC and LOCOG with the intention of finding a suitable solution, and we will ask for more information and clarification from LOCOG. The Council delegated BWF Vice President for Olympic Relations, Gregory Verpoorten, to vigorously engage in the ongoing dialogue with the relevant parties to resolve this pressing issue, and BWF is committed to find a solution to be endorsed at its next Executive Board meeting in March.