BWF presents new Grand Prix Gold Logo

Kuala Lumpur, Nov 21, 2013: Starting with the India Grand Prix Gold in January, the Badminton World Federation will unveil its latest series of tournaments – the BWF Grand Prix Gold – for global viewing next year.

The 11 events, following on the heels of the BWF Major Events and the BWF World Superseries, will showcase badminton from locations such as Bangkok, Jiangsu, London, New York, Saarbrucken and Taipei City; excitingly packaged together for the first time for international broadcast by IMG Media – the BWF’s media partner for the new 2014-2017 competition cycle.

Adding this third level of collective events will offer even more badminton fare for fans worldwide who have been devouring the content on BWF’s online channel – www.BadmintonWorld.TV – and via rights-holding broadcasters in countries worldwide.

“We are responding to the badminton’s public’s call for more live action and we are confident they will enjoy the Grand Prix Gold in the same way that they have our other products – the Major Events and the World Superseries,” said BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer.

“What we have done is created a new circuit which will have shared media rights and a collective identity to which fans can relate. Our aim is to improve the quality and quantity of television production across the Grand Prix Gold landscape. Previously, some tournaments had individual broadcast contracts for domestic and, in some instances, international broadcast while others had none.”

Now, the Grand Prix Gold series will be uniquely identifiable by a new Grand Prix Gold series logo (in various colour schemes) which is being unveiled today. Furthermore all events will have a minimum of two days’ live coverage – semi-finals and finals.

“Five semi-final matches and all five finals will be shown. Some countries will show more coverage but this will be a step up for other hosts, which didn’t have any international feed before – only domestic,” added Høyer, noting this move “is in synch with BWF’s strategic plan to get more people watching badminton, thereby building the sport’s fan base”.

BWF GRAND PRIX GOLD SERIES 2014

About BWF

BWF is the international governing body of the sport of badminton, recognised by the International Olympic Committee. The purpose and objectives of BWF include regulating, promoting, developing and popularising the sport of badminton throughout the world and organising, conducting and presenting international events at the highest level.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with 179 Members Associations worldwide.

About IMG

IMG Worldwide is a global sports, fashion and media business, with nearly 3,000 employees operating in 30 countries around the globe. IMG’s areas of expertise are diverse and wide ranging: IMG College; IMG’s Joint Ventures in China, Brazil, India and Turkey; IMG Media; IMG Events and Federations; IMG Golf and IMG Tennis, IMG Fashion; IMG Models; IMG Art+Commerce; IMG Clients; IMG Academy; IMG Consulting and IMG Licensing. More information is available at www.imgworld.com —- BWF