The former Danish Olympic Gold Winner, who is currently president at Badminton Europe, has his eyes set on the BWF presidency. Now he greets his fellow badminton lovers all around the world and speaks out his visions and ambitions for the sport.
"The support I have received from all of you in the last three years has been overwhelming and encouraged me to work harder and to seek further involvement.
BWF is, in my opinion, a very well-run organization which has now settled in well after the transition from Cheltenham to Kuala Lumpur.
I firmly believe stability is of the essence to enable our sport to develop further and to continuously be competitive when benchmarking badminton against other sports.
The road paved by the current BWF President, Dr. Kang Young Joong has ensured a strong platform for our sport from which we can and will grow even stronger to the benefit of all stakeholders.
Coming from a background as a player myself I am very keen that our sport is administered in a way where consideration to the players is taken in all decisions that we make. Without players there is no BWF and as administrators we must never lose sight of that.
I fully appreciate that the growth and popularity of our sport in many ways are due to the strong position of badminton in Asia. We have to embrace the possibilities that this brings and continue to build on that strength.
At the same time we must have an understanding for the challenges that the smaller Member Associations are facing. Structurally we still have a long way to go and much support must be placed in building infrastructures and strengthening administrations locally and nationally. Only by having sufficient sports halls available where our sport can be played, enough human resources to care for the administration, basic equipment and educated coaches to support our players can we reach the next level of development. BWF must play a stronger role in securing this.
I embrace the efforts that are already taking place in BWF Development in terms of the school project (Shuttle Time) and coach education and I want those efforts to spread to those BWF Member Associations who have the need for these activities.
I believe statements have been made in the past that the Olympic Funding BWF receives shall be used for development of our sport. I fully support that view.
Becoming an Olympic Sport has been the biggest catalyst for our sport and our Olympic status must continue to be key motivation in everything we do. The efforts made to enable badminton to come into the Paralympics have been extremely important and once that ambition is reached we must continue to develop this area. At the same time we must build on our Olympic network and seek influence where we see opportunities.
Finally the attractiveness of our sport to a wider audience is important to me. We must ensure that badminton can be seen in all parts of the world. We must continue to analyze our performance so that we are sure that we offer the audience what they demand. The world never stops turning and neither should a sport that has aspirations to become better and more popular.
So dear friends. I thank you for your time. I know we share the same passion for our sport to reach its full potential. If you feel that I can play a role in this I will continue to serve you to the best of my ability.
Yours sincerely
Poul-Erik Høyer"