P V Sindhu elected as member of BWF Atheletes' commission

Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu became one of the members of the BWF Athletes’ Commission after the end of voting for the four places on the representative body on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Indian topped the ballot with 129 votes as she led a trio of women onto the BWF Athletes’ Commission.

“I am happy to be elected as a member. Thanks to the players who have elected me. It is a great responsibility and I will surely do justice to my new post,” Sindhu told PTI.

Apart from Sindhu, Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland was placed third overall with 103 votes and Lithuania’s Akvile Stapusaityte (25 votes) was the third woman elected to the Commission.

Sindhu, Gilmour along with Germany’s Marc Zwiebler, who received 108 votes, will serve four-year terms. These three will replace Yuhan Tan (Belgium), Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus (Denmark) and Greysia Polii (Indonesia) who have concluded their four-year terms.

Stapusaityte will only serve two years as she will finish the term of Tang Yuanting. The Chinese player became a member of the Athletes’ Commission in 2015 but resigned following her retirement from badminton last year, thus leaving a casual vacancy on the Commission.

Regulations stipulate the male with highest number of votes; the female with the highest number of votes and then the person with the next highest number of votes (male or female) win the three places. By virtue of Tang’s resignation, the female with the next-highest number of votes was required to replace her.

Voting took place on the sidelines of the ongoing Sudirman Cup in Gold Coast as well as via email during the past month. A total of 183 valid votes were cast. There were two invalid votes.

The new Athletes’ Commission members will join Shintaro Ikeda of Japan; Koen Ridder of the Netherlands; and India’s Saina Nehwal on the players’ representative body.