Kuala Lumpur, 29 December 2011 - Candidate countries made their cases, ballots were cast and the verdict was clear - Kuala Lumpur will host the Sudirman Cup 2013 - the world's premiere mixed team badminton tournament. This is the first time Malaysia will host the prestigious badminton championship and the edition will mark its turn back into South East Asia after years of touring Europe and China.

The Sudirman Cup is held every two years and is one of the most coveted titles for badminton. Introduced to the world circuit in 1989 with Indonesia as its first host, previous hosts also include Denmark, England, Switzerland, Scotland, Spain, Netherlands and China.

The bid was instigated by the newly formed International Events Unit (IEU) under Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) and the championship will be organised locally by Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM). The bid presentation was done on 8^th December, 2011 during the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Council Meeting in Queenstown, New Zealand. Other than the championship itself, the Sudirman Cup 2013 will also mark BWF's Annual General Meeting (AGM) which will also be held in Kuala Lumpur.

Themed ‘Passing Our Passion to the World', Dato' Sri Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh, President of BAM, said, "Bringing the Sudirman Cup 2013 to Kuala Lumpur is very important to us and we hope to attract more than 40,000 badminton fans to witness the championship. The Putra Stadium will be undergoing major upgrading works after the Malaysia Open Super series 2012 and the cost of renovation is valued at RM7 million. The Sudirman Cup 2013 will be one of the first major events held in the stadium post renovation works".

"BAM as organiser will work very hard to ensure the success of Sudirman Cup 2013. We managed to attract more than 55,000 fans during the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup 2010. We hope to achieve the same amount, if not more, for Sudirman Cup 2013", continued Dato' Sri Mohd Nadzmi.

Commenting on the victorious win, Tony Nagamaiah, General Manager of IEU, said "On behalf of MyCEB, I would like to say that we are very proud of this win. We are expecting to welcome an average of 40 teams from 40 countries and more than 450 international participants. As host to the BWF AGM, there will also be an additional 300 international delegates consisting of the who's who of the international badminton scene."

Kuala Lumpur won the bid over Melbourne based on BAM's stellar past track record in organizing world class badminton tournaments including Thomas & Uber Cup (1992, 2000 and 2010), BWF World Badminton Championships (2007), BWF World Junior Badminton Championships (1994 and 2009), BWF Super Series Masters Finals (2008) and Asian Badminton Championships (1991, 1992, 1997, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008).

MyCEB was assigned by the Ministry of Tourism in the last quarter of 2010 to oversee the implementation of the IEU and to further develop the international events industry, primarily on identifying and supporting international event bids including sports, art and culture and lifestyle events. The formation of the IEU is in line with the Prime Minister's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), which has earmarked business tourism and international events as key segments which can contribute to the nation's economic growth through the attraction of international visitors, with the best possible economic returns suited to Malaysia's interest. As part of the tourism sector, the International Events segment is expected to contribute RM427 million in Incremental Gross National Income and provide 8,036 job opportunities to Malaysia by year 2020.

For more information, please contact:

 

Muhammad Nizam Hj Khamis (Mr)

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