NEWS : SUPER SERIES : Malaysia among Super Series hosts

Discussion in 'General Forum' started by seven, Oct 21, 2003.

  1. seven

    seven New Member

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    KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia have been earmarked to host one of the legs of the International Badminton Federation's (IBF) new Super Series elite tournaments.

    The IBF vice-president, Datuk Punch Gunalan, said yesterday that on-going discussions with sponsors were expected to end in December and the Super Series could start in 2005.

    Besides Malaysia, the other countries listed as hosts for the circuit, modelled after the ATP's tennis Masters series, are Indonesia, China, South Korea, Denmark and England.

    “The hosts are subject to the approval by the sponsors. There will be a Grand Slam Finals, just like in tennis,” said Gunalan.

    The Super Series is among the moves drawn up by the IBF to ensure that the sport can attract a bigger following.

    “We are upgrading our tournaments and we want to offer better prize money and see better participations in the Super Series,” said Gunalan.

    “The tournaments are aimed at getting better television coverage. If everything goes well with our sponsors, we will introduce the Super Series in 2005.”
     
  2. Tezta.com

    Tezta.com Regular Member

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    Now THIS is good news:)
     
  3. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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  4. david14700

    david14700 Regular Member

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    Good idea

    Look at golf and tennis and see how much more coverage they get because of the Major tournaments. I'm sure on the main networks, the majors get more coverage than all the other tournaments combined.

    I would love to see in my own lifetime, a badminton player get a winner's prize cheque for $500,000 like in tennis or golf. These days the big tournament winners in tennis and golf can get $1 million (Ernie Els won this much last week).

    The only thing that worries me is that the Super Series so far planned are all in countries where badminton is already big. How will that help develop badminton in countries like the US?
     
  5. seven

    seven New Member

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    I think these Super Series could be good, there are too many equivalent events (5* or 6*) at the moment and none of them is really important enough to get a really big media coverage...
     
  6. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Re: Good idea

    Theoretically, it would be easier to get sponsorship of appropriate amounts of money for the mentioned countries.

    Thus generate more interest first and see if the concept works, before trying to export an unworkable idea to places like US or Canada.

    I wonder if six tournaments are too many for a superseries?

    A big step forward is making the world championships a yearly event. That gives greater flexibility in sharing out which countries can host a wrold championships.
     
  7. ants

    ants Regular Member

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    At least Badminton is getting somewhere now. :) Until the day the Champion will get $1 Million prize check!
     

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