Kuala Lumpur: Although Bangkok submitted the bidding application only four weeks ago to apply for the right to host the 2018 Thomas and Uber Cup finals, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) has granted Bangkok the privilege of hosting the world’s biggest and most prestigious badminton team events in 2018.
After knowing Bangkok had outbid New Delhi, India, to host the 2018 Thomas/Uber Cup finals, Vice-President of the Badminton Association of Thailand, Paisan Rangsikitpho asserted they would be committed to host such a major event.
“We are incredibly honored to win the right to host the Thomas Cup for the second time after 1976, and also our first time to host the Uber Cup,” said Rangsikitpho.
“We have chosen the famous Impact Arena in Bangkok as the venue for both the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup events, and we also hope our men’s and women’s teams could do well at home,” added Rangsikitpho.
The BWF President, Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen also announced on Saturday that the Chinese city of Nanjing was awarded the right to host next year’s BWF World Championships, while another Chinese city Nanning has been selected to stage the Sudirman Cup mixed team badminton championships in 2019, as they were the only cities which made the bidding.
Meanwhile, the city of Basel in Switzerland defeated Tokyo to host the BWF World Championships in 2019. Tokyo was originally planned to win the bid and use it as a warm-up event ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games.
“Before the final voting took place, a long discussion was held between the BWF Council members and also the selection panel to decide which cities deserve to host our major events,” Hoyer Larsen told reporters after announcing the winning cities to host the major badminton events in 2018 and 2019 on Saturday.
