By: Al-Zahraa Rashad

Egyptian badminton player Doha Hany has been elected as a member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Athletes’ Commission for the 2026–2029 term — becoming the first Egyptian and African woman to hold a position within one of the most important committees of the international federation. She will represent the voices of athletes around the world.

The newly elected commission includes:
An Se Young (South Korea), Doha Hany (Egypt), Jia Yi Fan (China), Deborah Jille (Netherlands), and Pusarla V. Sindhu (India).

This remarkable achievement adds to the outstanding career of Doha Hany, who has made significant accomplishments in badminton at the local, African, and international levels.

Born on September 10, 1997, Doha Hany is an Egyptian badminton player and a graduate of the Faculty of Applied Arts, Department of Sculpture and Architectural Formation. Her grandfather, Fawzi Meselhy, was among the pioneers who introduced badminton to Egypt.

Doha represented Egypt at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games held in Nanjing, China, and later competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, participating in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles — becoming the first Egyptian woman ever to compete in all three badminton events at the Olympics.

She began her sports journey in gymnastics at the age of five, where she won several medals before dedicating herself fully to badminton.

Throughout her badminton career, Doha Hany has achieved numerous milestones. Her first international medal came when she won bronze in the girls’ doubles at the 2013 African Junior Championships in Algeria. She later secured two bronze medals at the 2014 African Youth Games in Botswana.

In 2019, she captured the gold medal in the women’s doubles at the African Games in Morocco, followed by another gold with the Egyptian women’s team at the 2020 African Championships in Cairo, and a silver medal at the 2021 African Championships.

In July 2022, she won a bronze medal for Egypt at the Mediterranean Games held in Oran, Algeria.

Currently, Doha Hany is preparing to compete in the 10th edition of the Egypt International Badminton Championship, scheduled to take place from October 14 to 18.

It is worth noting that badminton — also known as shuttlecock or birdminton — is an ancient sport first introduced by the British in 1870. British army officers played it in India, from where it spread to the rest of the world. Later, China and Indonesia began organizing major tournaments dedicated to the sport, in which both men and women have competed since 1980.

Badminton first appeared at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games as a demonstration sport, where no medals were awarded. Two decades later, at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics, badminton was officially included as a medal event for the first time.