IBF expects more qualifiers for 2008
Novan Iman Santosa, Jakarta
The International Badminton Federation is looking for more qualifying countries at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing in a move to keep badminton as an Olympic sport, IBF President Korn Dabbaransi said over the weekend.
"We expect there will be representatives from at least 50 countries in Beijing to maintain our place among the 28 sports of the Olympics," Dabbaransi told reporters on the sidelines of the IBF's Annual General Meeting at the Jakarta Convention Center here on Sunday.
After being played as an exhibition sport at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, badminton was officially included in the Olympics in 1992 in Barcelona, in which Indonesia won two golds from Alan Budi Kusuma and Susi Susanti.
The 2004 Olympics in Athens this August will see 172 shuttlers from 30 countries, competing in five categories: men's singles and doubles, women's singles and doubles and mixed doubles.
"We must increase the number of participating countries (in Beijing)," Dabbaransi said. He was accompanied by IBF chief in charge of operational affairs Andrew Ryan and the tournament's officer Charoen Wattanasin.
The AGM meeting, which was held concurrently with the ongoing Thomas and Uber Cups here, was attended by delegates from 137 countries.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri inaugurated the meeting at the State Palace, making her the first head of state ever to open the meeting.
Increasing the number of participating country members in the Olympics will require a change in the qualifying format.
To reach the target, the IBF began a decentralization program three years ago when Dabbaransi took office.
The program entailed establishing confederation offices in five key continents: the United States for North America, Denmark for Europe, Malaysia for Asia, New Zealand for Australia/Oceania and Mauritius for Africa.
Dabbaransi said that those offices were responsible for the promotion and development of badminton in their respective regions.
"The decentralization program has now enabled at least five continents to be represented for the first time in the Thomas and Uber Cups," he said.
The IBF will also pursue its "Continentalization Program", to establish permanent training centers, coaching programs, and the restructuring of the IBF Council and redistribution of IBF's share of the Olympic TV revenues to the five continental confederations for development projects.
The IBF members also agreed that they would become a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code and create a partnership with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).
They also elected six people as IBF Council members: Li Lingwei of China, Eraj Wireshinge of Sri Lanka, Edgar Aglipay of the Philippines, Robin Bryant of Australia, Puzant Kassabian of Bulgaria and Peter Gachenu of Kenya.
Punch Gunalan of Malaysia and Eraj Wijesinghe of Sri Lanka were elected vice presidents.