Høyer unopposed for BWF prez 2nd term

KUALA LUMPUR: BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer has been nominated unopposed to lead badminton’s world-governing body for a second successive term.

When nominations closed last Friday, the 51-year-old Dane was the lone candidate for the position which he has held since the last BWF Council election in May 2013.

Current BWF deputy president, Gustavo Salazar Delgado of Peru, is also unchallenged in his quest to retain his post for 2017-2021.

BWF vice-president – Para-Badminton, Paul Kurzo of Switzerland, was also nominated unopposed for his second four-year term to continue spearheading preparations for badminton’s Paralympic Games debut at Tokyo 2020.

Meanwhile, 35 people from across all five continental confederations are vying for 18 places on the 27-member Badminton World Federation council. The other seats are taken by the president, deputy president, the BWF vice-president – Para-Badminton, five continental vice-presidents, and the chair of the BWF Athletes’ Commission. The BWF council election will be held at the BWF annual general meeting on Saturday 20 May in Gold Coast, Australia.

A new face will also be representing players on the BWF council as outgoing chair of the BWF Athletes’ Commission, Yuhan Tan of Belgium, steps down in May when three positions on the six-member panel will be up for grabs. The other two members who have finished their four-year terms are Hans-Kristian Solberg-Vittinghus (Denmark) and Greysia Polii (Indonesia).

Those elections also take place in Gold Coast during the TOTAL BWF Sudirman Cup 2017.