Denis Oswald, the chairman of the IOC's Coordination Commission, backed London's decision to scrap the temporary venue and move badminton and rhythmic gymnastics to save money.

 

But Kang Young Joong, the President of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), has said that they still have serious concerns over the amount of time it will take to travel from the Olympic Village in East London to Wembley in the North West of the capital.

 

He said: "We are of the opinion that this will affect the Olympic experience for players and spectators compared with the initial set-up.

 

"Thus, the BWF Council requested more investigations to be made on the proposal."

 

Paul Deighton, the chief executive of London 2012, claimed that it takes 42 minutes to make the journey from the Olympic Village to Wembley, which is inside the IOC's guidelines of an hour.

 

He also promised that hotel accommodation will be provided for any players that wanted to stay closer to Wembley.

 

Kang said: "We have received comprehensive material from LOCOG on the proposal, but the travel time in particular for the athletes is very high.

 

"We furthermore find that the assurances provided by LOCOG to reduce this to a reasonable figure are still insufficient."

 

The IOC had initially claimed that they wanted a solution to the problem by the time of its next Executive Board meeting in Lausanne on December 9-10 but that deadline now seems set to be extended into the New Year.

 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]

 

 

Related stories

November 2009: London decision to move badminton and rhythmic gymnastics to Wembley supported by IOC

November 2009: Exclusive - Sir Craig backs London 2012 in row with badminton
November 2009: We could not justify temporary venue in this climate says Deighton
October 2009: Exclusive - Badminton and rhythmic gymnastics must move to Wembley says Johnson
October 2009: Badminton and rhythmic gymnastics set for Wembley