Next year’s edition of the BWF World Junior Championships will be held in Toronto, Canada, at Markham Pan Am Centre.
At its recent meeting in Australia, the Badminton World Federation accepted a bid by Badminton Canada to host the two-tiered tournament in November 2018, featuring the World Junior Mixed Team Championships (for the Suhandinata Cup) followed by the individual World Junior Championships (for the Eye Level Cups).
It will be the second time in four years this signature junior event will be staged in the Pan American region, with the 2016 edition having taken place in Lima, Peru. Canada previously hosted the BWF World Junior Championships in 2004 in Richmond.
“We are pleased to announce the World Juniors will be returning to Canada. It is again an opportunity to promote badminton in one of our developing confederations,” said BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer (featured image: centre).
“We look forward to a wonderful tournament with the best junior players from around the world competing and engaging with each other. These events are great exposure for our next generation of stars and it will be exciting to see the young talents getting ready to burst into the top flight.”
President of Badminton Canada, Anil Kaul (featured image: right), and Canadian Olympic Committee Board of Directors member, Martha Deacon (featured image: left) – both members of Canada’s BWF World Junior Championships 2018 bid team – presented Canada’s proposal to BWF Council members who then made their decision. The bid, which included a video endorsement from Mayor of the City of Markham, Frank Scarpitti, highlighted the venue’s prime location and technical strength. Markham Pan Am Centre boasts eight competition courts, three warm-up courts, seating for 1,000 spectators as well as a fitness centre and meeting rooms.
Kaul also noted Badminton Canada’s history and experience in hosting international events from as far back as the World Championships 1985 to the Pan Am Games 2015 and this year’s Pan Am Junior Badminton Championships.
“We are very excited and pleased to welcome the World Juniors to Canada and to showcase badminton to our multi-cultural community. We have lots of people who have migrated from countries with strong badminton traditions so we expect great support for this event,” he said.
“We look forward to hosting a world-class tournament of which we can all be proud.”
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