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Wednesday February 16, 2005
South Korean Young-joong to head IBF



PETALING JAYA: Asian Badminton Confederation chief Kang Young-joong will become the new president of the International Badminton Federation (IBF).

South Korean Young-joong is the only candidate nominated for the top seat following the decision of current president Korn Dabaransi of Thailand not to run for a second term of office.

Nominations for the elections closed on Feb 10. The annual general meeting will be held on May 8 in Beijing.

Current vice-president Datuk Punch Gunalan of Malaysia is the only candidate for the newly created post of deputy president while seven candidates are vying for the six vice president positions.

A total of 26 candidates have been nominated for the 17 council seats, including badminton legends such as Rudy Hartono and Li Lingwei, who are incumbents on the council, as well as 1996 Olympic gold medallist Bang Soo-hyun and Li Yongbo, China’s current head coach. All elected officials will now serve a four-year term. Previously the term of office for council members was two years, and three years for the vice-presidents.

More information here : http://www.worldbadminton.net/Portal/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=10&ItemID=1705

Some of the are going to be pretty young, in their mid thirties only. Even Li Lingwei can't be much past 40.

I wonder if former players make the best administrators.

Other than the President and Deputy President positons, I'm glad to note there is interest for the Vice-President and Council posts, the competition being the keenest in the latter where 26 candidates will be fighting for 17 places.

However, I am also saddened to note that some of the more active badminton nations are not represented, especially those from Europe. Notable among these are England (thankfully Scotland will be represented by Anne Smillie and I hope she will be voted in), which has been IBF's HQ flagbearer since inception, France, Netherlands and Switzerland. I was much relieved therefore when at least Denmark, Sweden and Germany had put forward their own candidates and I hope they will meet with success.

I'm also happy that the USA and Canada are also represented. I think most of us would like the USA to be in and play a bigger role in the marketing and sponsorship of world badminton. Without the USA, somehow there remains a big gap and the move forward seems to be the more difficult. However, I am not sure whether their candidate, Paisan Rangsikitpho (seems to be of Thai origin), can carry much weight and influence in the badminton fraternity there and be able to get the big commercial boys to be interested in supporting badminton as a vibrant game.

My hope is that, whatever the outcome of the elections in May, all officials elected will really work for the benefit of world badminton for the next 4 years and ensure its survival and popularity and bring it to a level no less inferior to tennis. :)