S'pore have attracted a number of Indonesian players and coaches. S'pore Open sponsorship remains at a high level. The Asia Cup is going to be held in S'pore for 3 years. If not mistaken, it's going to be held every year instead of every two years. That's quite a lot of sponsorship money considering the economic downturn.

How come the interest in badminton?

Well here in Singapore, the SSC (Singapore Sports council) have tried all sorts of ways to encourage people to play sport. like the "sports for life" program etc etc...

Its not that badminton in Singapore is neglected, coz its not, people play it all the time and some to quite good standards. Only that when the guys reach 18, we have to enroll into national service which is this stupid programme that takes away 2 vital years of your life. So most of the players who have played competitively at a younger age are forced out of the sport almost.

Unlike in Indonesia for example, players can train all day, everyday, thus reaching such a high performance level.

I think if we could actually train till we reach our peak, maybe, and i say maybe, we might just be able to produce our own homegrown professional players. Then only will the media have the right to boast about it

The government has probably earmarked badminton as one of the sports which the country can produce champions (although, technically, these are "imports").

There has been some success with this strategy (eg women table tennis). Badminton has been chosen because its one of few sports where we do not (generally) suffer from physical limitations and the shadow of Wong Peng Soon still looms large in some circles.

Over the years, theres been initiatives to raise the standard of badminton locally with schemes such as F&N and F&N elite squads. National Service is a big factor (2.5 years more generally rather than 2 years) but the emphasis on education arguably more so.