IBF moves to Malaysia to boost sport's profile

IBF moves to Malaysia to boost sport's profile

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

The International Badminton Federation (IBF) has relocated its head offices to Malaysia from Britain as it seeks to channel cost savings into building the game's global profile.

After years of deliberation, the sport's governing body's new offices officially open in Kuala Lumpur on Dec. 10 as part of a drive to build on the already huge popularity of the sport in the region.

"Most of the important tournaments and action is on this side of the world. We have to be practical. It was tremendously expensive being in England," IBF deputy president Punch Gunalan told AFP in an interview from Kuala Lumpur.

"It is a move that reflects the popularity of badminton in Asia. We will use the savings on development. We have a lot of plans.

"We have already started building training centers and they are bearing fruit. This money was previously spent on rent," said Gunalan, a Malaysian who was elected to his post in May.

While badminton has a big following in Asia and Europe, Gunalan also sees potential to promote the sport in the Americas following the huge success of staging the world championships in California this year.

"There are around 100 million social badminton players in the world and the sport has big potential," he said.

"Asia is the key area for the sport, but you only have to look at the Americas to see that it too has much potential.

"The time has come for a change. What we need to do is promote ourselves much better, work to be more media and spectator friendly.

"The target is to make badminton the best racquet sport in the world."

Kuala Lumpur has previously been announced as the 2007 host of the world badminton championships, with the tournament coming to Asia for the first time since 1989. The championship has traditionally been held in Europe.