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Badminton Europe's 50th anniversary year is coming to an end.
Big anniversary year is coming to an end
Date: 12/29/2017 2:22 PM
Published by : Emma Lollike
2017 has been the year where Badminton Europe celebrated the 50-year anniversary of the confederation. It has been an eventful year with announcements, elections, awards, openings and so much more; a year of beginnings and a year with endings. Take look back at 2017 and reminisce with us.

24 January: Four Presidents reunite in Copenhagen



The former BEC presidents were gathered for an official dinner in Copenhagen during the first BEC Board & Commission meetings of the year.

8 February: Name for BEC mascot was announced



BEC launched a name competition to find the official name for the BEC mascot. The names were shortlisted by the Fan Base commission and the board of directors voted to decide the final name. The name was presented on 8 February and Smashy has since been produced as a key hanger and a plush toy.

18 February: Hall of Fame member Erland Kops passed away



24 February: BEC Centre of Excellence allocated to Holbaek until 2020





29 March: BEC Congress 2017 in Prague


The congress is a combination of many events organized in the same weekend; Members’ Forum, Annual Delegates’ Meeting, BEC Awards Gala and Board of Directors meeting. Watch the video above to learn more about the difference.

The Annual Delegates’ Meeting (ADM) is organized on Saturday. The meeting is lead by the BEC board and votings for important matters are conducted and discussed. Voting for new board of directors also took place as there was two openings for 2017-2020 and one for 2017-2018.

Murat Özmekik was re-elected as Vice President until 2018 and the Directors elected to the BEC Board were the following:
Richard Vaughan (Wales) – until 2021
Andrej Pohar (Slovenia) – until 2021
Robbert de Kock (Switzerland) – until 2018


1 April: 5th BEC Awards Gala


A tremendous evening with special guests and nominees for the BEC Awards was invited for the 5th BEC Awards Gala. The best of European badminton was honored along with the announcement of the new member of the BEC Hall of Fame; Nora Perry.

Awards winners:
BEC European Para-badminton Player of the Year 2016: Lucas Mazur (France)
BEC Women in Badminton Award 2016: Lotka Lubin (Poland)
BEC Coach of the Year 2016: Kenneth Jonassen & Lars Uhre (Denmark)
BEC Technical Official of the Year 2016: Mojmir Hnilica (Czech Republic)
BEC Senior Player of the Year 2016: Christine Black (Scotland)
BEC European Young Player of the Year 2016: Toma Junior Popov (France)
BEC European Female Player of the Year 2016: Carolina Marin (Spain)
BEC European Male Player of the Year 2016: Danish Men’s Team (Denmark)
President’s Medal of the Year 2016: Irene Delvai (Switzerland)
Honorary Vice President of the Year 2016: Josef R. Benes (Czech Republic)
BEC Hall of Fame: Nora Perry, MBE (England)

As an end to the official part of the evening, Dubrovnik (Croatia) was announced as hosts for the BEC Congress in 2018.

3 April: Kazan announced as host for two of BEC’s major events


Russia was announced as hosts for the 2018 European Men’s & Women’s Team Championships (#EMWTC18) and European U15 Championships (#EU15C18), at Badminton Europe’s (BEC) Members’ Forum.


6 April: Huelva in Spain announced as host for 2018 European Championships




22 May: BEC Directors joined the BWF Council



Elections for the Council of the World’s Badminton Federation (BWF) was organized on Saturday 20 May at the BWF Annual General Meeting, in Gold Coast. Emma Mason of Scotland and Robbert de Kock of Switzerland join the BWF Council along five other newcomers.


List of European members of the BWF Council:
David Cabello – Spain – Council Member
Poul-Erik Høyer – Denmark  –  President
Robbert de Kock – Switzerland – Council Member
Paul Kurzo – Switzerland –  BWF Vice-President Para-Badminton
Emma Mason – Scotland – Council Member
Nora Perry – England – Council Member
Sergey Shakhray – Russia – Council Member
Yuhan Tan – Belgium – BWF Athletes’ Chair*
Peter Tarcala – Slovakia – Council Member
Etienne Thobois – France – Council Member
Gregory Verpoorten – Belgium - Vice President Europe

17 June: BEC became member of European Paralympic Committee



BEC became an official member of the European Paralympic Committee (EPC). BEC was accepted unanimously by the delegates at the 12th EPC General Assembly in Katowice, Poland.


22 June: BWF Athletes’ Commission election




Dutch international Koen Ridder became the new Chair of the BWF Athletes’ Commission. 


The four new members elected to the BWF Athletes’ Commission were (in order of most votes):  India’s Pusarla V Sindhu, Germany’s Marc Zwiebler, Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour and Lithuania’s Akvile Stapusaityte.


23 June: The first player announced for BEC Centre of Excellence



24 July: Estonia announced as host for the 2018 European Junior Championships



1 September: Centre of Excellence opened!



4 September: Events was confirmed for Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games 




14 September: Paris announced as host for 2024 Olympic Games



24 September: Anniversary was marked at Commission meetings in Sofia, Bulgaria


On the exact date of the 50th anniversary, BEC’s commission members and board of directors were gathered in Sofia, Bulgaria, for the first commission meetings of the new term. 

A big party was organized as the Bulgarian Badminton Federation also celebrated their own 50-year anniversary. 



4 October: Former BEC President Tom Bacher passed away




14 November: The first BEC Podcast was launched



11 December: European Games will count for world ranking


The 2019 European Games will carry world ranking points and thereby points for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games qualification.


19 December: First BEC Intern announced



Maria Bubucea works for the Moldavian Badminton Federation and will from 1 March begin a two-month internship at the BEC office in Copenhagen, Denmark. The internship is a part of the new BASIS Programme.


27 December: Guadalajara in Spain announced as host for the 2018 European Senior Championships





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