Badminton England makes key London 2012 appointments

IAN Wright and Andy Wood have been appointed to two key badminton positions in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics in London.

Wright has been appointed Badminton England's performance manager while Wood becomes the Olympic team manager.

As national head coach Wood has helped England win their first-ever Sudirman Cup medal and steered the team to successive silver medals at the European Team Championships.

Wood has been head coach for the past three Olympics - helping Simon Archer and Jo Goode win bronze in Sydney and Nathan Robertson and Gails Emms take silver in Athens.

"For many years, the GB Olympic badminton programme has been the beneficiary of the England performance system and I am determined that this continues," said Badminton England chief executive Adrian Christy.

"We have identified an additional £1 million over the next four years to be invested in the England programme to ensure that we provide the pathway for players to come from Performance Centres through a High Performance environment into the medal environment here at the National Badminton Centre.

"I have therefore appointed Ian Wright into the new role of England Performance Manager, where he will take overall responsibility for the England player pathway.

"I am also delighted that Andy Wood will take on the role of Olympic Team Manager. Andy has enormous Olympic experience and has been a pivotal figure in the Robertson and Emms' success story."