BADMINTON England is the governing body for the sport of badminton in England. It aims to govern, encourage and develop the sport for all throughout England.
Established as the Badminton Association of England in 1893, the association is based in Milton Keynes and has departments for Elite Play, Events, Membership, Development and Coaching. It closely liaises with the 41 Counties of England to provide support to the club and league structures.
The body was a founding member of the International Badminton Federation, since renamed to Badminton World Federation (BWF), which is the international governing body for the sport.
In 2006 Badminton England set up a joint venture with Inchima Limited to provide on-line coaching to its members. This service - called badminton.tv - represents the first time that a national badminton association provided media services to its members through the internet.
England i/ˈɪŋɡlənd/ is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, while the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separate it from continental Europe. Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. The country also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law—the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England's Royal Society laid the foundations of modern experimental science.
Datuk Lee Chong Wei (simplified Chinese: 李宗伟; traditional Chinese: 李宗偉; pinyin: Lǐ Zōngwěi; born October 21, 1982 in Georgetown, Penang) is a professional badminton player from Malaysia who resides in Bukit Mertajam. Lee won the silver medal in the 2008 Olympic Games, thus becoming the first Malaysian to reach the final of the men's singles event and ending Malaysia's Olympic medal drought since the 1996 Games. This achievement also earned him the title Datuk, and a description by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as a national hero.
As a singles player, Lee was ranked first worldwide on August 21, 2008. He is the third Malaysian men's singles shuttler after Rashid Sidek and Roslin Hashim to achieve such a ranking (since official rankings were first kept in the 1980s), and is the only Malaysian shuttler to hold the ranking for more than two weeks.
Lee is one of the most accomplished Malaysian badminton players having won two All-England championships. However, he is still searching for his first Olympic Games, World Championship and Asian Games titles as the world number 1.
Chen Long (Chinese: 谌龙; born January 18, 1989 in Shashi, Jingzhou, Hubei) is a male badminton player from China.
Chen participated in the Korea Open Super Series in January. He made it through to the semi-finals before losing to Danish player Peter Gade, 13–21 21–10 17–21. A week later, in the Malaysia Open, he lost in the opening round to Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand.
At the prestigious All England Open in March, he registered an impressive victory over 8th seed Jan Jorgensen in the first round but fell to Korea's Shon Wan-ho 18–21 21–18 19–21 in the second round. He followed up this disappointment with his best ever performance in a Super Series event by making it through to the final of the Swiss Open, where he finished runner-up to compatriot Chen Jin.
Chen was part of the Chinese team that won gold at the 2010 Thomas Cup in Kuala Lumpur. He only featured in their opening match against Peru, taking just 31 minutes to beat his opponent, before being replaced in the team by Bao Chunlai for the later rounds. Chen's first individual title of 2010 came at the Bitburger Open in Germany, where he beat Denmark's Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 21–3 12–21 21–9 in the final of the GP Gold event. His good form continued when he finished runner-up to Lin Dan at the China Masters two weeks later, going down 15–21 21–13 14–21 to the reigning Olympic champion.
Muhammad Ahsan Dar (Kashmiri: محمد احسن ڑار), (born 1960 in Sariwarpora Pattan, Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir) is the founder and former head of the Hizbul Mujahideen and school teacher from Pattan Baramulla. He went across the Line of Control to Pakistan in 1988. After completing his training there he came back to Kashmir Valley in 1990 to start the secession struggle for Kashmir. An ethnic Kashmiri, he belonged to the Dar tribe.