Badminton Malta’s General Secretary,  Jo’Anne Cassar, has just been elected as a Board Member during the General Assembly of the Confederation of Mediterranean Badminton, COMEBA.  Being elected as a member of COMEBA’s board is an extraordinary opportunity that brings with it immense responsibility and the chance to shape the future of badminton in the Mediterranean region. With this opportunity, Badminton Malta can shape the future of this sport, whether it’s by implementing new policies, improving governance structures, or initiating initiatives that promote inclusivity, diversity, and fair play.  Jo’Anne,  together with another 7 board members have been elected to serve on the board for the next 4 years, the board is now made up of the following:

President:                                                      Mr Andoni Azurmendi, SPAIN.

Vice President:                                              Mr Ratko Galjer, CROATIA.

Vice President:                                              Mr Shehab Yehia EGYPT.

Vice President (Med Games host):                Dott Giovanni Esposito ITALY.

General Secretary:                                        Mr Sylvain Benain, FRANCE.

Treasurer:                                                      Mr Mario Carulla SPAIN.

Members:                                                       Mr Sioud Raouf TUNISIA and Ms Jo’Anne Cassar MALTA

Just one month after attending Badminton Europe’s Members’ Forum and AGM, Jo’Anne also attended the Badminton World’s Members’ Forum and AGM, which was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This year’s theme for the Members’ Forum was “Innovation and Change – new opportunities – better practice”. Workshops were held in different groups to collect feedback, ideas, and best practices from Member Associations, and make this an opportunity to look at where we are and what we have achieved, and where we want to be as a sport in 10 years’ time.

2023 AGM was the first one to be held 100% face-to-face since 2019 and had a record number of 155 member associations attend.  Minutes of the 2022 AGM, Administrative and financial reports, including budgets and forecasts, were presented, and approved as well as some amendments to the constitution, amongst which were the vetting rules.  The objective is to ensure that BWF Officials can uphold the highest standards of governance. To do so, the rules established a vetting process around a Vetting Panel whose role is to verify that all BWF Officials can respect set eligibility criteria. Through this proposal, the BWF Council builds on the existing process to improve and strengthen the Vetting Rules.

The networking sessions during these meetings serve to strengthen relationships with other member associations, share best practices as well as discover new opportunities for collaboration.

Jo’Anne also had the opportunity to meet Malaysian badminton legend, Lee Chong Wei, 3-time Olympic silver medallist, 3-time world championships silver medallist, 5-time Commonwealth Gold medallist and winner of many other international titles.  He was inducted into the BWF Hall of Fame together with another legend, the Chinese Lin Dan.