Variety news around All England week

[huangkwokhau]

Players are warned to behave at All England
( taken from South Morning China Post, Wednesday,March 5,2008)

Reuters in London


The sport's elite came under severe scrutiny at this week's All England championships after unruly scenes at January's Korean Open final between world number one Lin Dan and ee Hyun-il of South Korea.

Officials struggled to restore order in Seoul amid unprecendented scuffles and bitter exchanges as players and coaches argued following a series of tight line calls.

The Badminton World Federation's (BWF) ruling council have announced a four strong special group calld the Major Incident Research Team and is considering introducing the technology used in tennis and cricket to decide close calls. Meetings in Birminghm in this week's All England tournament will seek ways of avoiding a repetition of the Korean incident.

Players and officials will be reminded how on-court issues,prticularly in a Olympic year, can mar the sport.

Disciplinary action could still follow the Seoul bust-up while BWF is thinking of having umpires operating as line judges from the semi-final stage of all major events from now on.

BWF Sport Committee chair-woman Anne Smillie, noting a trend,told the BWF website:" We all want to see there sult determined by the players,not by courtside officials,orby who can argue the loudest."

[robin7]

Behave, Lin Dan!

[huangkwokhau]

I know this had been reported ( another version)

Thai chiefs cry foul over fitness test
( taken from South Morning China Post, Wednesday,March 5,2008)

Reuters


Thai chiefs are furious with badminton's sponsor after it carried out its own pre-Olympics fitness tests and failed the country's to players.

Siam Cement Group ( SCG) has ruled any player who fails the test will be denied the chance to qualify for the Games in upcoming Super series events in Europe.

However,half of the players failed,including medal hope Boonsak Ponsana,who is expected to scoop the top honour at Thailand's annual sports awards lter this week.
"this makes no sense,",said Thai badminton association president Charoen Wattanasin. "Even Boonsakfailed.There will an outcry if he does not go to the Olympics." Two others who failed were double players,which rules their partners out.An urgent meeting will be called to settle the dispute.

[X Ball]

I know this had been reported ( another version)

Thai chiefs cry foul over fitness test
( taken from South Morning China Post, Wednesday,March 5,2008)

Reuters


Thai chiefs are furious with badminton's sponsor after it carried out its own pre-Olympics fitness tests and failed the country's to players.

Siam Cement Group ( SCG) has ruled any player who fails the test will be denied the chance to qualify for the Games in upcoming Super series events in Europe.

However,half of the players failed,including medal hope Boonsak Ponsana,who is expected to scoop the top honour at Thailand's annual sports awards lter this week.
"this makes no sense,",said Thai badminton association president Charoen Wattanasin. "Even Boonsakfailed.There will an outcry if he does not go to the Olympics." Two others who failed were double players,which rules their partners out.An urgent meeting will be called to settle the dispute.

The fitness test wouldn't be pulling an elephant or fighting a crocodile ?

[Oldhand]

It'd be more like playing three sets without too much of a fuss ;)

[X Ball]

It'd be more like playing three sets without too much of a fuss ;)

If that was the case, then I think Boonsak must have been in bad shape to fail.:D

[azabaz_ipoh]

haven't really seen boonsak lately.

by the way, keep the news coming hauge. thanks. :)

[kenny7_2006]

perhaps this should be the all-in-one news thread for the AE?

kinda confusing to have so many threads pop up for one or two news articles...

[kenny7_2006]

here's something from the New Straits Times today:

All England Championships: Misbun sees China players as top bets

By K.M. Boopathy

05 March, 2008

CHINA'S players often have that special something when it comes to the All England and national singles coach Misbun Sidek has tipped Lin Dan as the early favourite to win the singles crown in Birmingham this week. Misbun, in a telephone interview from Birmingham, said China's top shuttlers have regularly dominated the All England over the last decade and he believes World No 1 Lin Dan will be the player with the best chance to win the title.

"China's shuttlers seem to possess that extra when it comes to the All England. They always play well in this tournament and Lin Dan will be their best bet again," said Misbun yesterday.

China will also be banking on World No 3 Bao Chunlai, World No 4 Chen Jin and World No 9 Chen Yu but it will be Lin Dan with the genuine chance to earn his fourth All England title after having won in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

Misbun also tipped Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia and South Korean Lee Hyun Il, Sunday's German Open winner, to trouble China's juggernaut, but felt that Lin Dan or one of his compatriots will finish on top.

"Lin Dan is a player for all seasons. He can adapt well to condition and always produces his best in the All England. He will be the player to beat this week," added Misbun.

"He is his own enemy at times, but it will still be tough for the others to topple him.

"Taufik has not won the event and that makes him dangerous while Hyun Il has been playing well but we have to see whether he can sustain himself after playing in so many tournaments."

Misbun also felt that Denmark's Kenneth Jonassen will have a decent outing but does not see him as a favourite.

So where does this leave Malaysia's hope Lee Chong Wei, the World No 2, who himself is chasing his first All England title?

Misbun said Chong Wei's fate will hinge on the expected quarter-final clash against Taufik and believes the winner will go all the way to the final.

"Chong Wei must clear the Taufik hurdle first. That's going to be his big match simply because Taufik badly wants to win this tournament," said Misbun.

"Whoever wins the match will go all the way to the final. That's how crucial that (quarter-final) battle is going to be. I am hoping to see Chong Wei give it his best shot."

Hafiz Hashim will be having a tough first round match against Chunlai and Misbun said the initiative must come from his protege if he wants to resurrect his career.

[huangkwokhau]

Taken from South MOrning China Post ( March 6, 2008)

[huangkwokhau]

Now we know why PG pulls out, it is Asthma

[george@chongwei]

yeap, PG has asthma....

from thestar...


BIRMINGHAM: Denmark's Peter Gade-Christensen is out of the All-England men's singles competition because of asthma.
The world number eight seed, who won the title in 1999, was to play against Singapore's Kendrick Le e Yen Hui in the first round yesterday but Danish coach Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen said that it was not possible for Gade-Christensen to see action.
“He cannot even run 100 yards, so there was no option but for him to pull out. But it is disappointing,” said Lauridsen.
Singapore's Ronald Susilo, drawn against Olympic champion and number seven seed Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, also withdrew because of injury.
In the women's singles, England's top hope Tracey Hallam, the world number 16, was desperately disappointed to lose her race against fitness and was another late withdrawal.
The Commonwealth Games champion has been struggling with a thigh problem.
“I pulled out of last week's German Open with the hope of being able to play in Birmingham. But it is just too soon. It is really heartbreaking to miss the All-England,” she said. Germany's Juliane Schenk, who was injured in her semi-final of the German Open, was the fourth withdrawal from the main singles draws. – AFP

[Birdwood]

yeap, PG has asthma....

from thestar...
...


Is this asthma with PG new? Have not heard this before or he missed other SS due to that illness :confused:

[Birdwood]

here's something from the New Straits Times today:

All England Championships: Misbun sees China players as top bets

By K.M. Boopathy

05 March, 2008

...............
...............


The assessment from Misbun about MS AE 08 so far is correct. He does seem to have a balanced view and good predictions about where some of the matches may be going.

[CLELY]

here's something from the New Straits Times today:

All England Championships: Misbun sees China players as top bets

By K.M. Boopathy

05 March, 2008

CHINA'S players often have that special something when it comes to the All England and national singles coach Misbun Sidek has tipped Lin Dan as the early favourite to win the singles crown in Birmingham this week. Misbun, in a telephone interview from Birmingham, said China's top shuttlers have regularly dominated the All England over the last decade and he believes World No 1 Lin Dan will be the player with the best chance to win the title.

"China's shuttlers seem to possess that extra when it comes to the All England. They always play well in this tournament and Lin Dan will be their best bet again," said Misbun yesterday.

China will also be banking on World No 3 Bao Chunlai, World No 4 Chen Jin and World No 9 Chen Yu but it will be Lin Dan with the genuine chance to earn his fourth All England title after having won in 2004, 2006 and 2007.


Yeah, LD has good record in All England. He had entered finale four times in a row, 2004-2005-2006-2007 with runner-up position once in 2005, lost to his senior Chen Hong. Who will stop LD in this year edition? LCW,TH,his team-mate or no one?

[Winston_T]

yeap, PG has asthma....

from thestar...


BIRMINGHAM: Denmark's Peter Gade-Christensen is out of the All-England men's singles competition because of asthma.
The world number eight seed, who won the title in 1999, was to play against Singapore's Kendrick Le e Yen Hui in the first round yesterday but Danish coach Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen said that it was not possible for Gade-Christensen to see action.
“He cannot even run 100 yards, so there was no option but for him to pull out. But it is disappointing,” said Lauridsen.


how long PGC will be out of action?

[huangkwokhau]

I have been told that no meeting or discussion about Hawkeye yet by BWF..
Wondering when it will happen.......

[azabaz_ipoh]

haiya, BWF are so slow.....:(

[abedeng]

Gillian Clark mentioned about badminton needing to progress with the times, in yesterday's commentary.

BWF can't even fix their Thomas-Uber draw date properly.

[ricksakti]

Yaiks... I wonder when badminton can be like Tennis... Hmm... Long time to go... or will be never...

[z3048018]

most probably implement hawkeye in bigger tourneys - maybe OG
whatever, hope it will be soon

[huangkwokhau]

Still, there is no meeting about HAWKEYE at all during AE........as BWF promised.....

[Dreamzz]

so far it looks like there hasn't been too many controversial calls, not from the matches i've seen anyway.

as usual, the line judging at the all england is superb.

[pjswift]

so far it looks like there hasn't been too many controversial calls, not from the matches i've seen anyway.

as usual, the line judging at the all england is superb.
Actually, the line judging was surprisingly bad but it wasn't intentional like KO or CO.Just that the line judges have vision problem,especially visual alertness cos they are not young.AE probably has the oldest line judges but the youngest court attendants(to mop the floors)

[jimbo]

Actually, the line judging was surprisingly bad but it wasn't intentional like KO or CO.Just that the line judges have vision problem,especially visual alertness cos they are not young.AE probably has the oldest line judges but the youngest court attendants(to mop the floors)

Absolute agree. I noticed few "unintentional" bad calls by very small margin as compared to KO or CO. In any sports, bad calls always happen and it's OK as long as it's not "intentional" :eek:

[azabaz_ipoh]

i thought the line judging was good. only once or twice the call was wrong but they humans and those wrong calls were pretty tight. :)

[**KZ**]

yeah i thought the line judging was good too as some of you said it's probably not intentional if there is a bad call...the AE is probably my fav tournament to watch because of the atmosphere and they actually darken out the spectators area which enhances our vision of the match...that's one thing that other stadiums should follow....especially Asian stadiums I hate the lighting...

[ants]

Still, there is no meeting about HAWKEYE at all during AE........as BWF promised.....

I dont think BWF promised. They just mention about it but didnt put it as a priority.

[z3048018]

sometimes i wonder what's with the snails pace?

[azabaz_ipoh]

being complacent. *sighs* :(

[huangkwokhau]

I dont think BWF promised. They just mention about it but didnt put it as a priority.
They did mention to disucss during ALL England....it is priority if they do not want Badminton got kicked out from Olympics or another KOR's accident....

[george@chongwei]

They did mention to disucss during ALL England....it is priority if they do not want Badminton got kicked out from Olympics or another KOR's accident....
when will BWF introduce this HAWKEYE system in international tournament?

[Dreamzz]

i still don't think hawkeye is necessary. just a few extra cameras close to the lines will do.

[azabaz_ipoh]

yeah, like they did during the all england. the replays are clear enough for calls to be disputed if there is a need to. just add the same for the sidelines and wallah, good to go. the umpire can ask for a close up replay if the player wants to dispute the call. :D come on BWF, it should be easy to implement. dont make a simple thing to be highly complicated. :p;)

[pjswift]

Absolute agree. I noticed few "unintentional" bad calls by very small margin as compared to KO or CO. In any sports, bad calls always happen and it's OK as long as it's not "intentional" :eek:
No, it's not ok even if unintentional. Old people should not be allowed to line judge when their vision is not good enough to do a proper job.They should just be given a free pass on account of long AE service and not worked for it and mess up the match outcome because of their incompetence.AE should really get younger volunteers with perfect vision to do the job.And they can't be serious about the matches, can they?Getting little boys looking about 10 years old to mop court floors? These boys can't even do the job properly and can risk player injury.
Sometimes I think some AE traditions are a joke.

[abedeng]

Forget the expensive Hawkeye. Use cameras pointed to the sidelines, service lines (long and short) and baselines. Allow players to contest calls, where the camera will replay the shuttle movement.

This would be 99.9% accurate already.

[azabaz_ipoh]

agree abedeng. it is easier to implement than the hawkeye. and yet, BWF is still not doing anything about it. :(

[jamesd20]

I Agree with pjswift on the court moppers, they really need to be people who know what they are supposed to be doing. Often the AE ones have no idea and just come on a rub the floor aimlessly.

[Birdwood]

jamesd20, just realize you're one of the mods. Good work for closing threads, that had turned away from their original purposes and into divisive clashes of views.

Just wondering if AE uses more older linesmen/women because the cost and availability? Since you are in UK, maybe you could explain it a little.

[jamesd20]

Badminton England are Actually Quite active in trying to recruit Lines people for all levels of play from Local Junior tournaments right up to the all england.

They are all volunteers however, so as a result of this, with some exceptions obviously the Volunteers are either Students (who can take a couple of days off as you must be available throughout the whole week) of ages 16 upwards or Older (retired?) people who have no work. It would be very hard to convince working people to take 4 days off work for no pay, even to see top level badminton.

In other countries are the linespeople paid?

The Court Moppers are school children however (I think). A least in the finals they put older (12-16 yo) moppers on the court. Sometimes it must be frustrating for the Players, Umpires & Fans to see a 9-11 yo inadequately mopping the wrong area of the court.

[huangkwokhau]

Badminton England are Actually Quite active in trying to recruit Lines people for all levels of play from Local Junior tournaments right up to the all england.

They are all volunteers however, so as a result of this, with some exceptions obviously the Volunteers are either Students (who can take a couple of days off as you must be available throughout the whole week) of ages 16 upwards or Older (retired?) people who have no work. It would be very hard to convince working people to take 4 days off work for no pay, even to see top level badminton.

In other countries are the linespeople paid?

The Court Moppers are school children however (I think). A least in the finals they put older (12-16 yo) moppers on the court. Sometimes it must be frustrating for the Players, Umpires & Fans to see a 9-11 yo inadequately mopping the wrong area of the court.


In Indonesia, linespeople get paid....dont know how much though...

[Birdwood]

Badminton England are Actually Quite active in trying to recruit Lines people for all levels of play from Local Junior tournaments right up to the all england.

They are all volunteers however, so as a result of this, with some exceptions obviously the Volunteers are either Students (who can take a couple of days off as you must be available throughout the whole week) of ages 16 upwards or Older (retired?) people who have no work. It would be very hard to convince working people to take 4 days off work for no pay, even to see top level badminton.

In other countries are the linespeople paid?

The Court Moppers are school children however (I think). A least in the finals they put older (12-16 yo) moppers on the court. Sometimes it must be frustrating for the Players, Umpires & Fans to see a 9-11 yo inadequately mopping the wrong area of the court.

The reason I asked is that at the end of MD SF Kor vs Mas, a shot was clearly out, but was unintentionally called in. It's probably due to eye-sights and the constrains these linesmen/women had to put up. I would think it's hard work for anyone, let alone seniors. Great volunteerism. Maybe AE should consider paying some money to attract a wider range of people.

[jamesd20]

The reason I asked is that at the end of MD SF Kor vs Mas, a shot was clearly out, but was unintentionally called in. It's probably due to eye-sights and the constrains these linesmen/women had to put up. I would think it's hard work for anyone, let alone seniors. Great volunteerism. Maybe AE should consider paying some money to attract a wider range of people.

I think this is probably not undertaken due to employment laws and insurance reasons which would add significant cost to the Event.

The members would need to be tempoarary employees of BE, and therfore accrue Holiday, sick etc.. pay. BE would be responsible for there well being also.

I don't know the actual figures but I assume there are approximately 90 Volunteers required at any one time. On the three days before QF there is approximately 12 hours of play, meaning this is in effect counts for two days, therfore you have 9 Days of paying 90 People for about 6hrs avr/day. THis gives 6480 man hours. at a rate of At least £5.50/hr this Equals to over £35,000 for the week. Include Taxes on behalf of these payments and extra insurance liability you will be talking well over £40,000.

Would you get a better quality Linejudge/Mopper? Personally I doubt it, you will just get the same people doing it, but this time getting paid for it.

[Birdwood]

...
Would you get a better quality Linejudge/Mopper? Personally I doubt it, you will just get the same people doing it, but this time getting paid for it.

Thanks for the explanation and cost calculation. The law sounds like worse than US. Regarding your last comments, all I can say is you got some great volunteers there :)

[ctjcad]

...
In other countries are the linespeople paid?
..same story here also in the U.S., during the U.S. Opens, at least the last few yrs. All the linespeople were consisted of volunteers.
But short of being treated a full order of Sam Woo's mouth watering roast duck or Outback Steakhouse's restaurant hearty 16 oz. filet mignon king steak, the volunteers had been receiving a full complementary meals, courtesy of the facility's restaurant, a Thai restaurant . They would be treated for lunch and dinner (that's if they stay for the whole shift). If not, they'd be fed w/meal @ which ever shift they're working. Add to their volunteer work, they'd receive the tournament's t-shirt and a group pic. The volunteers themselves are mostly older people, with a few younger people in the mix. Some of them are even regulars in every U.S. Opens, w/ a few traveling from other states. :cool:

[jamesd20]

I am Not sure about the benefits of being a linejudge...they may well get free meals while on duty. They get passes which let them into the Players stands to watch the games.

Maybe Some BF members who were linejudges can help?

[elwin81]

Linejudges in AE get meal allowance, free parking, free programme, free guest ticket. No money are whatsoever..........