Bahrain Badminton and Squash Federation president Sawsan Taqawi has been named president of the Arab Badminton Federation (ABF).
The decision was announced after the ABF general assembly held at Hani Royal Suite in Juffair, where former vice-president Omar Bilali of Morocco chaired the meeting.
Representatives from 10 countries – Bahrain, Sudan, Jordan, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Morocco and Lebanon – out of 13 that are under the umbrella of the ABF were present at the meeting. Iraq, Tunisia and Mauritania were unable to attend.
Present were Supreme Council for Youth and Sports assistant general secretary and Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) general secretary Abdulrahman Askar and Union of Arab National Olympic Committees general secretary Saud Abdulaziz.
The Bahrain Badminton federation was represented by Taqawi and general secretary Hisham Al Abbasi.
After being named the new president, Taqawi made a presentation on her plan to develop badminton in the Arab region, which includes a strategy to promote sponsorship and investment through a number of initiatives, in addition to empowerment of women by organising a set of programmes in the region.