The BWF announced today the four-person BWF Para-Badminton Athletes’ Commission, elected yesterday by the players competing at the BWF Para-Badminton World Championships in Dortmund, Germany.
The BWF announced today the four-person BWF Para-Badminton Athletes’ Commission, elected yesterday by the players competing at the Para-Badminton World 
Championships in Dortmund, Germany.
The Commission members are:
* Richard Perot (FRA) – Chair
* Antony Forster (ENG)
* Martin Rooke (ENG)
* Yau Tiam Ann (MAS)
“This is a very important step the BWF has taken here and I congratulate the members on their election to the Commission,” BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer said after the elections.
“Although we have had an Athlete Representative on the BWF Para-Badminton Commission since it was established in 2009, this new Commission is established at a very important time with the preparations of our bid for (Para)-Badminton to be included in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.”
The BWF decided to form a Para-Badminton Athletes’ Commission to increase the opportunity for players to express their views and have their voice heard. The BWF Athletes’ Commission, chaired by Emma Mason, services the needs of badminton players, while this new Commission has the responsibility for the para side of the sport.
The role of the BWF Para-Badminton Athletes’ Commission is to liaise with the athletes, organize meetings, canvas their views and feed this back to the BWF Para-Badminton Commission.
Two representatives from the BWF Para-Badminton Athletes’ Commission will sit on the BWF Para-Badminton Commission, one being the Chair of the BWF Para-Badminton Athletes’ Commission. The other will be appointed by the BWF Council on the recommendation of the BWF Para-Badminton Commission to ensure diversity of representation – such things as sport class (standing / wheelchair), gender (male / female) or regional representation.
The first meeting of the Commission took place today in Dortmund and as per the regulations, the members decided a Chair of the Commission – Richard Perot, who will automatically join the BWF Para-Badminton Commission.
The BWF Para-Badminton Commission provides expert advice to the BWF on the training, development and competition needs of those participating and competing in para-badminton.
Meanwhile the BWF Para-Badminton World Championships concluded its semi-finals day with some spectacular matches which will set up some close finals on Sunday.
The Championships have had a number of visits from representatives of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) based in Bonn. These have been:
* Todd Nicholson, IPC Athletes Commission Chair and Governing Board Member
* Jürgen Padberg, IPC Paralympic Games Sport & NPC Services Senior Manager
* Julia Rauw, IPC Classification Manager
The visits have been a of benefit to both the BWF and IPC and the championships has provided an opportunity for the BWF to showcase para-badminton and the training and education undertaken alongside the Worlds.
The BWF Para-Badminton World Championships end tomorrow with a talented line-up of athletes vying for the title of World champion.
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CAPTIONS:
BWF home page: Back row (from left): Yau Tiam Ann (MAS), Emma Mason, Poul-Erik Høyer and Antony Forster (ENG). Front row (from left): Martin Rooke (ENG), Richard Perot (FRA) – Chair and Todd Nicholson – IPC Athletes’ Commission Chair.
Top right: The new BWF Para-Badminton Athletes’ Commission.
Bottom right: Poul-Erik Høyer, Jürgen Padberg and Paul Kurzo (BWF Vice President – Para-Badminton).
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