Opening of World Badminton Foundation Offices

**cxytdn** · 02-02-2008, 10:53 PM

Opening of World Badminton Foundation Offices
31 January 2008

The World Badminton Foundation was officially launched on Saturday 26 January 2008 in Seoul, Korea. The Badminton Europe Confederation was represented by the President and General Secretary, Tom Bacher and Brian Agerbak.

Many rumours of the Foundation were floating around after the BWF Council had called for an EGM to propose the early termination of office of the BWF President, Dr. Kang Young Joong. In the rationale was used the involvement of the BWF President in setting up this Foundation.
So what was unveiled while visiting the opening? Was the Foundation really competing with BWF?

The answer is that it was very difficult to determine where and how the Foundation could be competing with the BWF. To get a better understanding it would be necessary to look at the objectives of the two organisations.

The BWF is an International Federation, recognised by the International Olympic Committee, which was founded by independent Member Associations and the core business is organising World Championships and governing the sport of badminton globally.

The Foundation is an organisation whose objective is to financially support worthwhile projects for sport, culture and education. It is understood that the word badminton should perhaps be replaced as the Foundation will also be supporting non-badminton projects e.g. scouting activities and activities for less fortunate young people.

At the opening of the Foundation it was informed that the starting capital was 10 million USD. This was supposed to be raised to 25 million USD by the end of the 2008. Of the capital 5% could be released per year to support projects.

So the outset is actually that the two organisations have one thing in common - the support of badminton. However, that seems to be the only correlation and it is difficult to see why the Foundation can not be used positively rather than trying to portray a conflict. Could the Foundation not be seen as a supplement to the existing sources of funding for development projects of the badminton community?

Badminton Europe will recommend to its Member Associations to build their own opinion based on facts and to seek out the truth of the matter. Do not judge the Foundation wrongly based on hearsay.

Let us return to the rumours surrounding the EGM called to overthrow the BWF President. The Foundation is seemingly the prime reason for calling the EGM but is it a sensible reason?

Badminton Europe Council strongly opposes the call for an EGM only 10 weeks before the AGM. This has been clearly formulated to the BWF Council. Our view seems to be shared by the Asian and African Badminton Confederations. We hope the BWF Council will listen to its Members and cancel the EGM.

**Loh** · 02-03-2008, 12:12 AM

Could you please quote the source of this information including the date so that we could verify?

Or is this article written by you?

**chris-ccc** · 02-03-2008, 01:03 AM

Originally Posted by Loh

Could you please quote the source of this information including the date so that we could verify?

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OK Loh...

Source of this information: Badminton Europe (News released on Thursday 31-Jan-2008)

Link: http://www.eurobadminton.org/news_item.aspx?id=9441
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**ctjcad** · 02-03-2008, 02:39 AM

Originally Posted by cxytdn

Opening of World Badminton Foundation Offices
31 January 2008

The World Badminton Foundation was officially launched on Saturday 26 January 2008 in Seoul, Korea. The Badminton Europe Confederation was represented by the President and General Secretary, Tom Bacher and Brian Agerbak.
...

..another international Badminton body in the mix?!?!..

...One is BWF and the other is WBF...With the Olympics coming up on the horizon, hmm, this should be an interesting development to follow...

**Birdwood** · 02-03-2008, 02:56 AM

Originally Posted by ctjcad

..another international Badminton body in the mix?!?!..

...One is BWF and the other is WBF...With the Olympics coming up on the horizon, hmm, this should be an interesting development to follow...

Don't be surprised if anything gets thrown between BWF and WBF

**extremenanopowe** · 02-03-2008, 03:58 AM

It is always healthy to get opposition. That will keep them on guards and not slack...

**sumbadder** · 02-03-2008, 05:58 PM

you guys didn't read the article close enough. the WBF isn't set up to be a competitor to BWF.

**Loh** · 02-03-2008, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by sumbadder

you guys didn't read the article close enough. the WBF isn't set up to be a competitor to BWF.

Well I thought the name itself tells you something. If at all this organization is set up to help all sports and other worthy causes, its name should not be specific and to me, certainly confusing and competing with the BWF and I don't think this is a good idea as it has sent confusing messages to the sports fraternity.

If WBF wants to support badminton in particular, as its name appears to be, one better way not to be seen as competing is to work closely with BWF in major projects for example.

**ants** · 02-03-2008, 07:52 PM

WBF might come up with their own league i guess. That might be a steeping stone to the 2nd tiered players.

**chris-ccc** · 02-03-2008, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by ants

WBF might come up with their own league i guess. That might be a stepping stone to the 2nd tiered players.

.
Agree with you ants,

What I see about WBF to BWF is quite similar to KLRC to BAM.
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***kwun*** · 02-04-2008, 05:04 AM

USD$25million is a lot of money. it means that they are serious about what they are doing.

to me, the naming and the intent of the organization is still questionable and uncertain at this point. what i know is WBF won't be able to take over BWF in the long term. BWF is the only organization recognized by the IOC.

however, WBF will be able to help develop badminton. which means all of us will benefit.

but unfortunately, it seems unlikely that BWF and WBF will have a chance of cooperating. it is unfortunate as we can see the ability of Kang to raise money, if Punch didn't go have a big fight with him the US$25mil would have easily gone into BWF instead of WBF. no one will ever talk about cameras and computer line system being expensive anymore.

**chris-ccc** · 02-04-2008, 05:39 AM

Originally Posted by kwun

...... it is unfortunate as we can see the ability of Kang to raise money, if Punch didn't go have a big fight with him the US$25mil would have easily gone into BWF instead of WBF.

no one will ever talk about cameras and computer line system being expensive anymore.

.
So, in other words, "United We Stand, Divided We Fall".

Yes, I would hope that BWF could/should work with Kang... I can see that Kang has a genuine interest in Badminton at heart.
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**taneepak** · 02-04-2008, 05:58 AM

No one should be above the game of badminton, neither Punch nor Kang. The BWF should not be challenged or seen to be challenged by any organization, in overt or covert disguises, because it just demeans the sport. Also money should not be seen to "buy" or corrupt what is proper.
The honourable way is to comply with the statutes of the BWF to settle any dispute. Otherwise, anyone who doesn't get his or her way in the BWF and who has big "money" can always buy his or her way in, only for another millionaire or billionaire with a bigger purse to topple him or her. The cycle repeats. This is not a club level sport where you can buy a whole club with money-like some Premier soccer clubs-but a worldwide governing body not unlike, say FIFA in soccer.

**llpjlau** · 02-05-2008, 08:13 AM

hopefully these organizations can continue to promote the sport of badminton. despite having a large fan base in Asia and ethnic Asians living outside the continent, the sport is still not as widely accepted as other sports such as tennis.
with the establishment of this organization, more funds can be put into developing the sport in "alien" countries, most of which are in Africa, the Americas, Oceania and Europe (basically the whole world!)

**Malayrulez** · 02-05-2008, 08:16 AM

Taneepak is it only because of the name you see the Foundation as challenging the BWF. Do you know the objectives of the Foundation?

I am wondering how a Foundation can compete with BWF. It is very much against how Foundations normally work. Foundations are giving and supporting. They are not organising World Championships, having Member Associations or involved with Olympic Games.

When looking up the word Foundation in the Wikipedia the definition is:

A nonprofit organization (abbreviated "NPO", also "non-profit" or "not-for-profit") is a legally constituted organization whose primary objective is to support or to actively engage in activities of public or private interest without any commercial or monetary profit purposes. NPOs are active in a wide range of areas, including the environment, humanitarian aid, animal protection, education, the arts, social issues, charities, early childhood education, health care, politics, religion, research, sports or other endeavors.

When we look at the word Federation the Wikipedia defines as:

A federation (Latin: foedus, covenant) is a union comprising a number of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central ("federal") government. In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states is typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision of the central government.

The definitions are very far apart.

Should badminton not embrace this possibility of funding to grow our sport and try to seek ways to cooperate rather than see ghosts and exclaim corruption?

**extremenanopowe** · 02-05-2008, 08:39 AM

looks like a competitor to me. Again which is good. Let the market or fans decides as to who is better. Credibility will show in the end. If you are good in anything, nothing to loose correct? 'save badminton, save the world'. hehe.

**taneepak** · 02-05-2008, 08:51 AM

But isn't it strange for a foundation with its global objective of funding sports, education, and culture, to consist of only Badminton people who were well known to be at loggerheads with the BWF? What do they know about other sports, education or culture? It looks more like a shadow badminton "government", waiting in the wings. Good strategy, but may backfire.