2017 Worlds headed for the ends of the Earth

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has announced the hosts of the 2017 Sudirman Cup and BWF World Championships as Gold Coast and Glasgow, respectively.  The announcements came after a BWF Council meeting this week in Lima, Peru.

It is hard to find two host cities further apart geographically.  The successful bid for the Sudirman Cup by Gold Coast, in Queensland, Australia, will take badminton’s World Mixed Team Championship outside of the Eurasian continent for the first time in the event’s history.  The venue will be the Carrara Sport and Leisure Centre, which is a facility being constructed for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games badminton tournament but will be completed in advance of those Games and get an early workout as the site of the Sudirman Cup.

“We are absolutely delighted to have won and that BWF has recognised the Oceania confederation,” a BWF press release quoted Badminton Australia CEO Paul Brettell as saying.

“This is significant for us because we have a partner (Tourism and Events Queensland) who is not only committed to the Sudirman Cup but to the development of badminton overall. We needed a big event like this to give us a profile that will attract sponsors and give us the opportunity to deliver something really big.”

Glasgow, which hosted the Commonwealth Games this year, also had a bid in for the Sudirman Cup but after it lost out to Gold Coast, the announcement came that they would get the nod for the Worlds.  The Scottish city has not welcomed a major BWF even since 2007, when the Sudirman Cup was held there.

“There is a very pleasing symmetry to this announcement, when one recalls that we staged both the Sudirman Cup and the Individual Championships in 1997 and the Sudirman Cup again in 2007,” said BADMINTONscotland Chief Executive Anne Smillie.  “Having the Individual Championships in 2017 will complete another ten year cycle of bringing the most prestigious badminton events to Scotland.”

The 2017 World Championships will take place at the Emirates Arena, which will get attention next week as well, as the backdrop to this year’s Scottish Grand Prix.

Click here to read the full BWF press releases on the announcements for the Sudirman Cup and BWF World Championships hosts.