Indonesian Justian Suhandinata has announced his candidacy for the presidency of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in an attempt to clean up the mess left by a high-profile match fixing scandal at the London 2012 Olympics.
Four women’s doubles pairs from Indonesia, South Korea and China were disqualified from the Games after deliberately losing matches to gain favourable finals draws.
If successful, Suhandinata will step into the top job vacated by current President Kang Young-joong from South Korea.
Kang will step down from the role in May after an eight year tenure.
Suhuandinata says he wants to build on the successful growth of the sport under Kang’s leadership.
“When it was first at the Olympics, badminton was ranked 26th (by the IOC). Currently it is between 16 and 17,” Suhandinata says.
A new President faces the challenge of further develop the lucrative BWF World Superseries.
The Superseries commands a total minimum prize of US $200,000 and winners can collect in the range of US $90,000 in the tournament’s current format.
Sudandinata is confident, despite the challenge of raising the image of the fledgling Olympic sport:
“As candidates, we believe we have the experience, expertise and passion to propel badminton to even greater heights.”
langou
Roar Guru
I joined a baddy club this year. Great game, very tatical and great for fitness. Good game to watch as well
Johnno
Guest
I hope they do, badminton is a good fun sport to play. Indonesia has been a badminton power house in the past. The sport is growing and is global. At the elite level it's very fast, and takes a lot of skill. A good sport. A world super series is exactly what the sport needs. And with Asia's middle class expanding badminton is only going to grow, just like ping pong. And the facts the IOC now rates it higher is a sign badminton will grow.