IWAS was pleased to hear the news that during the recent Para-badminton World Federation (PBWF) EGM its members had voted unanimously in favour of them joining the Badminton World Federation.
The meeting that was held in Dortmund, Germany on Friday 3 June 2011 was called to consider the proposal to dissolve the PBWF and assign to the BWF the governance and day to day management of Para-badminton. Additionally, BWF will now be formally responsible for the development of international para-badminton.

In the news release on the BWF website following the meeting, PBWF President Paul Kurzo said,

‘We are happy with the result and to now be under the umbrella of the BWF, this is a historic step for para-badminton and our membership recognized the importance of a “one sport, one team” approach to developing para-badminton’.

Following on from the decisions made during the EGM, the BWF constitution was amended at the following Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Qingdao, China to permit the integration of para-badminton.

“There was total support for the decision to integrate – both from the PBWF and the BWF memberships and Councils, and everyone is in-line with the direction”, said Kurzo. “This will put us in a stronger position for our application to be part of the 2020 Paralympic Games."