The Athletes’ Commission aims is to represent the needs and views of athletes to the BWF Council and Committees. The Chair of the Athletes’ Commission is a voting member of the Council and has the responsibility to advise Committees and Council on matters relevant to athletes.

The objectives of the BWF Athletes’ Commission are:

• To act as the official link between the players and the BWF;
• To proactively consider issues relating to players and give advice to the BWF on player related matters;
• To represent the rights and interests of the players to the BWF Council to ensure the athlete opinion is heard at the highest level of governance of Badminton;
• To maintain contact and good relations with the IOC Athletes’ Commission.

 

The terms of reference detail the scope of  work for the Athletes’ Commission.

 

Membership of the Commission 

Greysia Polii (INA) – Chair

Olympic Champion in women’s doubles at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with doubles partner Apriyani Rahayu, Greysia Polii has a current world ranking of 6 in women’s doubles. Greysia has won three bronze medals at the World Championships in 2015, 2018, and 2019.

Greysia’s recent results include winning the YONEX THAILAND OPEN 2021 and runner-up at the TOYOTA THAILAND OPEN.

“I would like to assist my fellow players to achieve their dreams and help them out with their requests around competing on the international circuit”.

Robin Tabeling (NED) – Deputy Chair

“I have been involved in Athlete representation for a few years now as a member of the Athlete Commission of Badminton Netherlands and the official National Athletes Committee of the Netherlands. From January 2022, I will be the spokesperson for the Netherlands, on behalf of the National Athlete Committee, in meetings with the IOC and the EOC.

During the COVID outbreak I was involved in several video-calls between some players and the BWF about the situation at that time and possible solutions regarding tournaments and ranking. With all this experience I would like to ask for you vote to get elected for the BWF Athletes commission. When I talk with some of the players around the tour, we all have different opinions, different questions unanswered, but we all want the same.

To professionalize the tour even more and have the players involved in different kinds of decision making (for example the new score system, tournament planning etc.) COVID times have been different, and so has the calendar and many other aspects. But we as badminton players have to keep making our voice heard in good and bad times, because together we can have a strong voice”.

Zheng Siwei (CHN)

A silver medallist in mixed doubles (with Huang Ya Qiong) at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Zheng / Huang are currently ranked 1 in the world. The pair are two times World Champions (2019, 2018) and silver medallists at the BWF World Championships 2017 and Zheng / Huang were Asian Games 2018 mixed doubles champions.

Zheng Siwei was part of the winning team – Asian Games 2018 Men’s Team Champions and Thomas Cup 2018 winners and part of the winner tear for the 2019 Sudirman Cup.

Iris Wang (USA)

A singles player, Iris’s recent results include the bronze medal at the VICTOR Denmark Masters 2021 and the XXIV Pan Am Individual Championships 2021.

“I have been competing in the international circuit for over ten years–playing in events ranging from Argentina Future Series to Indonesia Superseries Premier. In doing so, I have been exposed to a diverse set of organizations, players, and issues and hope to use these experiences to better represent athletes across all levels and backgrounds.

In addition, coming from a country without an organized national team, I understand the difficulties that many individual players face when they travel on their own. I aspire to create a safe space where underrepresented countries are also able to voice their concerns. Overall, I aim to ease communication between all athletes and BWF to create the optimal environment for athletes to focus on their sport”.

Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND)

Sindhu is currently a member of the BWF Athletes’ Commission and was elected in 2017. Sindhu was selected as one of two BWF Integrity Ambassadors announced in 2020.  As a member of the Athletes’ Commission, Sindhu aims to act as a link between players and BWF by communicating the interests and feelings of the players.

Sindhu is a two times medallist at the Olympic Games winning the bronze medal in women’s singles at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Sindhu was World Champion in Basel in 2019 and silver medallist at the 2018 and 2017 BWF World Championships – and bronze medallist at the BWF Wolrd Championships in 2013 and 2014.

Awarded BWF’s Most Promising Player of 2016, Sindhu is the youngest Indian to receive the fourth highest Indian civilian honour “Padma Shri” in 2015. Sindhu received highest sporting honour “Rajiv Khel Ratna” Award of India in 2016 and is Brand Ambassador for the Government of India for various public utility projects. Sindhu was awarded the BBC Indian Sports Women of the Year 2020.

Kim Soyeong (KOR) 

Kim Soyeong’s goal as an Athletes’ Commission member is to support and help other players and to work on behalf of the players to achieve shared goals.

Kim is a bronze medallist in women’s doubles at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (partner Kong Heeyong) and they have a current world ranking of 4 in women’s doubles.

Awarded BWF’s Most Improved Player of the Year in 2019, Kim’s recent results include being bronze medallist at the VICTOR Denmark Open 2021, runner-up at the YONEX French Open 2021, and winner of the Thailand Open 2021 and runner up of the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2020.