george@chongwei
04-22-2008, 11:27 PM
DUTCH INTERNATIONAL – Home Players Withdraw http://www.badzine.info/images/M_images/printButton.png (http://www.badzine.info/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1013&Itemid=42&pop=1&page=0#) In an unprecedented move the top two men’s seeds Dicky Palayma and Eric Pang and number three and four women’s seeds Jie Yao and Judith Meulendijks have sensationally withdraw from their home Dutch International which is due to start this Thursday.
With Olympic qualification stripped from the quartet by their home NOC, and a rule that seemingly makes little or no sense, it seems that they can find no reason to take part in their home event.
The Dutch NOC criteria for qualification state that a player must achieve two Super Series quarter finals or a semi final at the Europeans to qualify for selection within the qualifying period. Palyama (WR 36), Pang (WR39), Yao (WR 19) and Meulendijks (WR 22) fail to meet these strict criteria and thus miss out on Beijing 2008. If the quartet had played for any other country in Europe both the top man and ladies singles player would have qualified.
This decision to skip the event is sure to be a major step back for organisational committee of the Dutch International and the Dutch Federation who are simply caught in the middle - even if it is perfectly understandable from the player's point of view as they have spent a year of intense training and travelling to be eventually told they are to stay at home this summer.
With Olympic qualification stripped from the quartet by their home NOC, and a rule that seemingly makes little or no sense, it seems that they can find no reason to take part in their home event.
The Dutch NOC criteria for qualification state that a player must achieve two Super Series quarter finals or a semi final at the Europeans to qualify for selection within the qualifying period. Palyama (WR 36), Pang (WR39), Yao (WR 19) and Meulendijks (WR 22) fail to meet these strict criteria and thus miss out on Beijing 2008. If the quartet had played for any other country in Europe both the top man and ladies singles player would have qualified.
This decision to skip the event is sure to be a major step back for organisational committee of the Dutch International and the Dutch Federation who are simply caught in the middle - even if it is perfectly understandable from the player's point of view as they have spent a year of intense training and travelling to be eventually told they are to stay at home this summer.