The Badminton World Federation will be exploring "exciting and innovative prospects to transform badminton into an outdoor/beach sport" as well as an e-gaming hot property.
These decisions, endorsed by the world-governing body at its recent
Council meeting in China, will see BWF engaging with various
stakeholders to propel badminton in these directions.
BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer said: "The feedback from such
events will certainly help as we look to develop this genre of
badminton. There are legions of athletes and fans who are into outdoor
sport – some beach sport particularly – and it's an area that's very
attractive commercially,"
"We have seen the emergence of the Beach Soccer World Cup, the
Beach Volleyball World Championships and other outdoor or beach formats
of various sports. In terms of expanding badminton both professionally
and recreationally, we have so much to gain from penetrating this
sphere."
"It would be great to see badminton being played competitively on
beaches, on streets, in parks and other open spaces – but there are a
lot of technical aspects we have to get right, especially with the
shuttle. We have to look at these things first but we are committed to
taking badminton outdoors."
Høyer also highlighted e-gaming as another market "that we owe it to our sport to tap into so we can further engage with our many badminton fans".
While BWF has not yet determined the focus of its e-gaming
activities, he noted, the BWF Council's decision is an important step in
embracing e-gaming as an opportunity to develop badminton in a unique
manner.
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