Badminton Pan Am — Badminton Pan American Confederation (BPAC)

What is BPAC?

The Badminton Pan American Confederation (BPAC), which presents itself as Badminton Pan Am, is the continental confederation for badminton in the Americas. It states: “BPAC is the governing body of badminton in the Americas and is recognized as such by the Badminton World Federation (BWF).”^[1] BWF, the world federation, links Badminton Pan Am on its statutes page under the heading “Confederation Links”, with Badminton Africa, Badminton Asia, Badminton Europe and Badminton Oceania.^[8]

The confederation gives its address in Miraflores, Lima, Peru, with a Peruvian telephone number and the e-mail address [email protected].^[3] Its legal form could not be established: its regulations page lists competition and conduct documents but no statutes, and BWF’s Constitution, which would set out the continental confederations’ status, could not be retrieved.^[3][8]

It covers badminton and para badminton, and runs junior events in AirBadminton; its calendar for 2026 listed the Pan Am Individual Championships, the Pan Am Junior Championships, a Pan Am AirBadminton Junior event, para badminton events and international tournaments in the Dominican Republic, Peru and Mexico.^[1]

What does BPAC govern or do?

BPAC writes no laws of the game. Its regulations page republishes BWF’s documents, among them the Laws of Badminton (updated 2025), the instructions to technical officials, the General Competition Regulations, the World Ranking System and the BWF Anti-Doping Regulations, alongside BPAC’s own continental rules: the Pan American Championships Regulations and the Continental Circuit Regulations, each in English and Spanish and updated in 2025.^[3]

Under the Pan American Championships Regulations (updated January 2025), the Pan Am Individual Championships are a “Grade 2 Level 5 event” awarding BWF World Ranking points; the men’s and women’s team championship, the Pan Am Male & Female Cup, is a “qualifying event for the final stage of the Thomas & Uber Cup”; and the mixed-team Pan American Cup is a “qualifying event for the final stage of the Sudirman Cup Finals”.^[4] Both team events award points in BWF’s World Team Ranking System, and the junior championships award Junior World Ranking points.^[4]

Anti-doping, world rankings and the laws of the game belong to BWF; no document retrieved names BPAC as a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code in its own right. The confederation also runs development work, including a BPAC Junior Academy held in João Pessoa, Brazil, in August 2026.^[6]

When was BPAC founded and where is it based?

The confederation states that “BPAC was founded in the city of Mexico in 1976 and nominated Victor Jaramillo (MEX) as President until an official election was scheduled to take place at the first Pan Am Championships the following year”, and that “The first Badminton Pan Am Championships was held in Moncton, New Brunswick-Canada, in April 1977.”^[1] No independent source for the founding date was retrieved, so it rests on the confederation’s own account, and no renaming date could be established.

Its office is in Lima. The confederation’s site gives the address Ca. Gral Recavarren 111, Of. 601, Miraflores 15074, Lima, Peru; whether this is a statutory seat or an administrative office could not be checked against statutes.^[1][3] The board list names Armando Bruni as president, Jose Gabriel Del Busto as deputy president and BWF Council member, a BWF vice-president and a further BWF Council member, and four vice-presidents for North America, the Caribbean, Central America and South America; it gives no terms of office.^[2] The board page links to annual general meeting records from 2018 to 2025.^[2]

How is BPAC recognised?

The recognition rests with BWF. BPAC states that it “is recognized as such by the Badminton World Federation (BWF)”, and BWF’s statutes page, which publishes the BWF Constitution (version 1.6, April 2026, effective 27 April 2026), links Badminton Pan Am among five bodies under the heading “Confederation Links”, without describing their status.^[1][8] The Constitution itself could not be retrieved, so the article recognising the confederations, and what it delegates to them, could not be quoted. BPAC’s own regulations show what it runs under that recognition: continental championships graded in BWF’s ranking systems and the continental qualifying stages of the Thomas & Uber Cup and the Sudirman Cup.^[4]

Olympic recognition belongs to BWF; BPAC holds no IOC recognition of its own. The continental multi-sport tie is the Pan American Games of Panam Sports, scheduled for Lima from 23 July to 8 August 2027.^[9] The badminton qualification manual for Lima 2027, published on BPAC’s site, refers to NOCs “associated member of BWF and BPAC”, and allows each NOC four men and four women, “provided that each of them has qualified in accordance with the BWF and BPAC requirements.”^[7] Panam Sports’ qualification manual for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games likewise provided that “La BPAC confirmará a Panam Sports y a los CONs las plazas que hayan clasificado”.^[11]

What does BPAC organise?

BPAC runs the Pan Am Individual Championships, which its regulations say are “promoted annually”, in men’s and women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles.^[4] The XXIX YONEX Pan Am Individual Championships were held in Lima from 7 to 10 April 2026, listed with the grade “Continental Championships”; the XXVIII edition was held in Lima from 9 to 12 April 2025.^[5][10] BPAC’s records list the 2020 edition, in Guatemala, as cancelled, the 2019 edition in Aguascalientes, Mexico (25–28 April) and the 2018 edition in Guatemala City (26–29 April).^[10]

The team championships alternate: the Pan Am Male & Female Cup is “promoted every even-numbered year” and the mixed-team Pan American Cup “every odd year”; the Pan Am Junior Championships are annual, in under-13 to under-19 categories with an optional under-11 category.^[4] BPAC also runs a continental circuit of international tournaments under its Continental Circuit Regulations.^[3]

The Pan Am Individual Championships are not part of the Lima 2027 qualification: the manual ranks countries “using the BWF World Rankings for 2027 as of April 20 (Week # 16)”, and gives the singles gold medallists of the 2025 Junior Pan American Games a direct place.^[7] On 4 October 2026 the Lima 2027 Games were upcoming.^[9]

Who are its members?

BPAC states that “It was founded in 1976 and is currently composed of 37 Member Associations.”^[1] The figure is the confederation’s own, read on its site in October 2026; no independent count was retrieved. Its Pan American Championships Regulations set the continental championships its members enter, from the annual individual championships to the team cups that qualify for the Thomas & Uber Cup and the Sudirman Cup.^[4]

The confederation organises its board by four sub-regions, with a vice-president each for North America, the Caribbean, Central America and South America.^[2] For the Lima 2027 Pan American Games, the qualification manual gives the host, Peru, four places in each gender and caps each NOC at four men and four women, within a total of 90 athletes, 45 women and 45 men.^[7]