KUALA LUMPUR: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) is not expected to submit a bid to stage the 2026 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, even though it seems that the hosting rights for these prestigious men's and women's team tournaments are available.
It is yet to be determined whether the Badminton World Federation (BWF) has received any bids thus far.
However, the extension of the deadline has sparked some curiosity.
On Dec 12, the world governing body informed its member associations that the deadline for applications to host the 2026 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals has been extended to Feb 1 of the following year.
"This is in recognition of the fairly short timeline to bid and therefore accommodating the requirements from potential bidders to extend the deadline," said BWF in a post on its corporate site.
BAM secretary-general, Datuk Kenny Goh, said there has been no inclination from BAM to host a major tournament since the 2013 Sudirman Cup Finals, at least for the time being.
The last time Malaysia hosted the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals was in 2010.
"At the moment, there's no intention from BAM to submit any bids, but let's see," said Kenny.
Expressing concerns, Kenny questioned why the BWF has struggled to attract interest from its affiliates to submit bids. He expressed a desire to see changes in the current hosting model.
"Even though I'm a council member of the BWF, I'm not speaking on behalf of the BWF here. In my own point of view, the BWF should reevaluate and review the hosting model because I find it somewhat discouraging that, until now, there have been no bids, prompting the BWF to extend the deadline," said Kenny.
When asked about the measures required to encourage member associations to undertake hosting responsibilities, Kenny declined to disclose the specifics.
He preferred that such matters be discussed internally within the BWF.
While Kenny did not elaborate further, it is apparent that the reluctance is primarily tied to financial considerations.
As per the 'Request for Proposals' (RFP) for BWF major championships, a member association's bid must include the hosting fee, which is then presented to BWF and will be assessed as one of the criteria in the selection process. However, the RFP did not provide a range of amount required.
Furthermore, the host is expected to cover the majority of the costs associated with the execution of the event.