In a latest development, the City of Ulsan in Korea has won the favors of the International Badminton Federation (Badminton World Federation) for hosting rights of the 11th BWF Para-Badminton World Championships.
In a meeting at Bilbao, the BWF Council announced about the event and the host city today giving power to the Korea Badminton Association for the Disabled (KBAD) to host next year’s tournament. This announcement is in line with the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in which badminton will make its debut. The meeting was attended by the BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer, Deputy President Gustavo Salazar Delgado, Vice President Para-Badminton Paul Kurzo, the Ulsan Sports Association for the Disabled Deputy Director Kim Chang Hoon, Ulsan Government Administrative Officer in charge of Sports Ha Sung Ho, International Coordinator for Korea Badminton Association for the Disabled Choi Jung In, Secretary Director of Korea Badminton Association for the Disabled Park Young Ho and Assistant Manager of Ulsan Sports Association for the Disabled Shin Young Sung.
Speaking about the two bids the BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer congratulated both the Chinese and Korean delegations for their vision of providing a world-class experience for para-badminton athletes globally for the Championships.
In his statement Høyer said, “We are honoured to have received two really comprehensive bids which is very promising for the future of the Para-Badminton World Championships.”
Speaking further about the winners, he added, “The application from the City of Ulsan showed strong public and community engagement and it was clear that the City and community are very much behind the Championships.”
The reason behind selecting the bid of Korea is that KBAD and Korea have hosted a number of signature para-badminton events in recent years including the Para-Badminton World Championships in 2009 in Seoul, the Asian Para-Badminton Championships 2012 in Yeon Ju-Gun and the 2014 Asian Para-Championships in Incheon in which badminton was played.
This worked in favor of their bid as a proven history of hosting successful events, the strong technical aspects as well as the City and community support made the case in favor of Korea; Korea is seen as a very attractive option for the next Para-Badminton World Championships.
The , 2015 version of the Para-Badminton World Championships saw 232 athletes from 35 nations who competed for 66 medals. The event was held at Stoke Mandeville, England.
Given the history attached of hosting similar tournaments, Ulsan City expects to host more athletes and participation from more countries in the event scheduled in November 2017.