Yesterday we announced that Badminton will be held in Wembley Arena at the London Olympic Games in 2012 – moved, for a number of reasons, from the original temporary venue.
Wembley hosted the All England Open Badminton Championships for 37 years from 1957 to 1994 so it has a long badminton history and, of course, an excellent reputation for hosting world-class events.
It’s also hosting the 2011 World Badminton Championships next August so there will be plenty of opportunity for players to get used to the venue before 2012.
As the person responsible for organising the Badminton competition, I am very much looking forward to working with the team at Wembley Arena on the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Badminton's going through an interesting time at the moment. Europe has just got its first men’s singles world junior champion – which is a big thing. He is a Danish 16 year old called Viktor Axelsen and is definitely one to watch for future Olympics.
Viktor's win is a significant achievement. Men's singles in Badminton at senior level is dominated by the Asian power houses of the sport, especially China (they have four men in the world's top ten).
Europeans have had some recent success though. The most successful European men's singles player of the past decade is Peter Hoeg Gade. He is ranked no. 4 in the world and won a record fifth men's singles European title a month ago at the European Championships in Manchester.
I was also delighted to see England win three European bronze medals: in men's singles (Rajiv Ouseph won England’s first men’s singles European medal since 1994); mixed doubles (Nathan Robertson and new partner Jenny Wallwork); and women's doubles (Mariana Agathangelou and Heather Olver).
There were many strong British performances, among them Great Britain’s top ranked women’s singles player Susan Hughes from Scotland, who was defeated in the quarter-finals by the eventual gold medallist Tine Rasmussen from Denmark.
We'll be charting their progress to the Olympics, hoping they'll be achieving the same again – or even better – in front of a home crowd in Wembley.
