Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 12, 2012: The cosmopolitan city of Shenzhen was recommended to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) as the host city for the 2012 BWF World Superseries Finals, and has been officially accepted by the BWF after assessing its suitability for the prestigious season-ending event.
In 2011, an agreement was reached with the Chinese Badminton Association (CBA) to host the World Superseries Finals in 2011 and 2012. The CBA had then opened the host city application within China and have in recent years received a spike in applications to host BWF-sanctioned badminton competitions, reflecting the successful nationwide development of the sport in China.
The 2012 Li Ning BWF World Superseries Finals attracted the strongest playing field and in turn drew the biggest crowd attendance of the competition since the inception of the series in 2007.
“We understand that the current uncertain economic climate in the western part of the world has made it more challenging for many to host major events, while China is not only in a favourable position but also offer a strong and sturdy fan base for the sport to remain confident in garnering local support to stage major events,” said Director of Chinese badminton and Badminton World Federation Vice-President Liu Fengyan at the 2012 Thomas & Uber Cup Finals in Wuhan.
In the first year of this World Superseries Finals host agreement, “City of the Dragons” Liuzhou was awarded the hosting rights. In the second year, Shenzhen, which has recently hosted the 2011 Summer Universiade was a favourite choice with its good venue infrastructure on offer, global accessibility for players, officials and fans, and boasts of excellent climate in December. Situated in the Guangdong province, just south of Dongguan and Guangzhou where badminton is dubbed the “city sport”, Shenzhen is one of the most modern Chinese cities with stunning city skylines having attracted an influx of foreigners and foreign investments in the last few decades.
“We believe that Shenzhen is an excellent choice to host the 2012 season-ending tournament for the sport’s commercial series,” said BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund, “as what the city represents aligns with the new BWF brand as the BWF have in 2012 also rebranded to stand for modernity, efficiency and strength, and we are only pleased that Shenzhen carries that flavour.”
The 2012 BWF World Superseries Finals will be held from 12-16 December at the China Resources Shenzhen Bay Sports Center. As the finale for the OSIM BWF World Superseries, the top eight qualifiers in each of the men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles disciplines (with a quota of two players or pairs per country for each discipline) on the World Superseries standings will stand to fight for a handsome share of the USD500,000 prize money.
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