Does anybidt else out there think it ridiculous that India can opt to play in the European grouping for these tournaments

What logic is behind India's participation in the European group? Is there any official IBF explanation for that? I am just curious...

Maybe they haven't noticed the fall of the British empire?

;)

Which grouping would you rather play in to ensure you qualify for the fianls. Asia where you will have to contend with China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea and Japan. Or Europe where you have to meet Denmark, England and.......well who else.

Sorry Mags but Sweden just are not that strong at the moment

But Canada skipped the American grouping to play in the Euro groups, now that's sad :P

Perhaps the IBF ought to impose some form of control and insist that countries play in the groupings relavant to their location.

On the other hand if FIFA adopted this way of thinking.....and if England elected to play in the Antartica group for the next world cup qualifiers, then perhaps.............No, forget it, that would mean they would have to play Adelie Land so would still fail to qualify

It seems that the countries can chose the venue them self, but that the IBF can change it - if it is to awkward. It seems that that the asian qualification is the stronger ones

Thomas Cup:
Denmark-England-Sweden-Germany (actually India is not seeded and have to beat England in the group stage)
vs.
Maleysia-Korea-Hong Kong-Thailand

Uber Cup
Denmark-Holland-England-Germany
vs.
Indonesia-Japan-Korea-Hong Kong


From the regulations:
4.3 Member Associations shall enter by stating:
4.3.1 the Competition(s) it is desired to enter (ie Thomas and/or Uber Cups); and
4.3.2 the venue chosen for its team to compete in the first stage of each Competition.

4.4 For teams exempt to the semi-final stage (see Regulation 5), the venue chosen by a Member Association is subject to change.

Ouch, that really hurt!

:P

I, if anyone, would know that Swedish badminton is gone to the dogs...

The free choice of venue for qualification is to give everyone an equal chance of reaching the finals in Guangzhou.
If all strong countries would come from Asia, it would be unfair if a lot of 'small' badminton countries could reach the finals, only because they come from Europe. Remember these are the world championships for teams! Also, the number of places available for the finals of the Uber cup is larger in Melbourn (4) than in Eindhoven (3).

So the only fair option is to give everyone the right to play everywhere. Another option would be to just hold the preliminaries at ONE location in stead of two, but this is quite problematic. Some teams would have to travel very far and it would make the tournament extremely big with so many teams.

- Mark / http://zax.mine.nu/