BWF Members’ Forum 2022

May 9, 2022

Following the disruption caused by COVID-19, the first BWF Members’ Forum in three years – fittingly themed ‘Navigating Through the Pandemic’ – was held in Bangkok on 6 May 2022.

Divided into three sessions, the focus this year was on:

  • Impact of COVID-19 on the membership and the strategies applied to get through a global pandemic.
    • Presented by Badminton World Federation Secretary General Thomas Lund.
    • Attended by panel members Antoine Jean Joseph Diandy (Senegal Badminton Federation President), Jamie Parsons (Badminton Australia Chief Executive Officer), Maggie Brennan (Special Olympics International Manager of Sport Development) and Greysia Polii (BWF Athletes Commission Chair).
  • Introducing the BWF Physical Activity Policy, approved by the BWF Council in October 2021, to the membership and how it could link in with national programmes to promote badminton to communities, governments, funders and other stakeholders.
    • Presented by David Cabello (Chair, Development and Sport for All Committee Showcasing Best Practice).
  • Recognise the winning and shortlisted applications of the inaugural BWF Member Association Awards and the extraordinary ways in which they have activated badminton nationally.

The following day, Special Olympics Thailand and the Badminton Association of Thailand signed the Special Olympics World Games Training Pledge, aimed at working together to best prepare Thai badminton players for next summer’s World Games in Berlin, Germany.

It marked the second such occasion after the Special Olympics United Arab Emirates (UAE) and UAE Badminton Committee’s pledge signing in November 2021.

Special Olympics International and BWF had signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2019 to increase the growth, quality and frequency of badminton participation.

In 2020, they published their Global Badminton Development Strategy to continue to grow the sport across the Special Olympics movement.

Prior to the pandemic, more than 370,000 players were engaged around the world, and its popularity is growing among Special Olympics athletes.