Revival Sports Clubs has brought to the attention of the World Badminton Federation (BWF) the issue of Badminton Association of Maldives’ denial of Revival’s voting rights at its congress.
Revival Sports Clubs has brought to the attention of the World Badminton Federation (BWF) the issue of Badminton Association of Maldives’ denial of Revival’s voting rights at its congress.
In a letter addressed to BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund, Revival said that BAM claims that the club has not participated in any of the tournaments held exclusively for clubs in the last two years.
However, Revival's letter asserted that the club has been regularly involved in tournaments for the past four years.
In response to the complaint, BAM said that the decision to deny voting rights for Revival was taken on the ground that membership was not complete under Articles 32(g) and 12 (lh) of the rules.
Revival, however, said that those clauses in the rules governing the decision to deny voting rights to the club were not interpreted correctly.
Of the two articles, Article 32(g) states: Individual members who are registered before June of the previous year will be eligible to vote in Congress. Associate members [clubs] who have been active during the preceding two years is also eligible to vote.
Article 12(l) states that clubs with an annual participation rate of 75 percent in club tournaments can vote in congress.
Revival's letter stated that although BAM claimed the club did not meet the requirements, their membership was not revoked. Therefore, the association's decision not to grant the club the right to vote raises questions, the letter said.
"We would like to point out that Revival has participated in tournaments organized by the Badminton Association, and the players of this club have represented the country in international tournaments. In addition to the 2023 Asian Games, 50 percent of the men's national team participating in the 2022 Commonwealth Games were determined players who trained full-time under Revival Sports," Revival said in the letter to BWF.
"In addition, the Revival Sports players won the men's singles, men's doubles, and mixed doubles titles in the last national badminton tournament held last year."
The annual fees paid by the associate members, totaling MVR 18,000, are being paid in a timely manner, along with the fees for making court bookings for practice, according to the letter signed by Hussain Rameez, Secretary-General of Revival. The letter also stated that BAM is accepting these fees.
"Therefore, it shows that the association believes that the club is active. Till date, we have not been informed that the membership of the club has been revoked," the letter read.
Revival accuses BAM of attempting to allow only clubs that currently favor the leadership to participate, without involving certain members and clubs that do not support BAM’s current Exco.
"Allowing only members who will vote in favor of the present Exco to participate in the AGM shows the corruption and unfair practices used by the President and Exco to remain in power," the letter added.
The letter mentions that the ACC and the Sports Commission have asked not to hold the elections as the ACC is looking into the matter following allegations of corruption leveled against the association. The election, which was originally scheduled to be held last Friday, has now been postponed.
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