Badminton: New look BWF World Senior Championships to be held in Poland

Representative image of the sport of badminton (Reuters)

New Delhi: Katowice in Poland will host the first new-look BWF World Senior Championships – featuring a badminton festival – in 2019.

The city in the Silesian province of southern Poland on Friday won the right to stage the popular age-group tournament which is held biennially by badminton's world-governing organisation.

Gathered at their year-end meeting in Jamaica, BWF Council members voted in favour of Katowice over the Danish city of Kolding, following bid presentations by both the Polish Badminton Association and Badminton Denmark.

Meanwhile, the BWF World Junior Championships 2019 will take place in the capital of the Czech Republic – Prague – after Council members accepted a bid from the Czech Badminton Federation to host the two-week tournament which encompasses a mixed-team championship and an individual event.

"I would like to congratulate both successful member associations on their winning presentations. It is particularly pleasing to see our Major Events attracting interest from cities and countries to which we have not traditionally gone," said BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer.

"It is another positive sign that badminton is developing well and extending its global reach. Based on the technical, logistical and social elements of the bids we have accepted, we look forward to some high-quality events in Katowice and Prague which all players should enjoy."

The Czech Badminton Federation is also keen to provide a high-calibre tournament when the BWF World Junior Championships unfolds at the 8,000-seat Tipsport Arena.

"We are very proud and happy. We want to give a great presentation of badminton to our country and a great presentation of our city and country to the foreign players and fans who come there," said Czech Badminton Federation Vice-President, Jan Mikulka, adding that city officials have already given their blessing to this initiative.

Meanwhile, the BWF Council has delayed its decision on the host city for the BWF Para-Badminton World Championships 2019.