BWF Council Meeting – Key Decisions

Further to the meeting of Council on Saturday 21 August, please find below the key decisions of the meeting.

1.New Associate Member

Under Clause 11.2 of the BWF Constitution, the Council admitted Ligue de Badminton de Wallis et Futuna as an Associate Member of the BWF.

There are now 197 Members of the BWF, of which 10 are Associate Members.

2. Events Related Decisions

The Council made the following decisions related to events regulations:

TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2021

1. Replaced the Qualification Ranking (known as the “Road to Huelva Qualification Ranking”) with the BWF World Ranking as the ranking used to determine qualifiers for the BWF World Championships 2021;
2. Changed the ranking date to determine qualifiers to 21 September 2021 from the current date of 5 September 2021. 

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Rationale

COVID-19 continues to impact the ability for players, across all regions, to actively compete in World Ranking tournaments, including those falling within the qualification period for the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2021 (1 January – 5 September 2021).

The World Ranking better reflects the relative strength of players across all regions and better fits with the revised schedule of the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2021 which has been moved later in the year.

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TotalEnergies BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2021

1. Increased the maximum team size for the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2021 to 12 players per team (12 players for the Thomas Cup Finals / 12 players for the Uber Cup Finals) from the current maximum of 10.

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Rationale

This increase in maximum team size (minimum team size remains at four players) will help minimize any impact from COVID-19 on the ability of teams to fully participate (e.g. positive tests, isolation, quarantine, etc.), and lessen pressure faced by individual players in the number of matches they need to play.

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Please contact Events Director, Darren Parks, or Senior Technical Events Manager, Chris Trenholme, for more information.

3. Other

In preparation for the end of year Council meeting, the eight BWF Committees will have virtual meetings over a period of three weeks starting on Monday 20 September.

The Committees will report and make recommendations to the Council which next meets on Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 October 2021.

We will give you another update following the two-day meeting of Council.