Hey guys, what do you think of this and who do you think will be the first recipients? WGPF + All England + Japan Open = Badmintoncentral Grand slam World Champs + WGPF + All England + Japan Open = Badmintoncentral World slam Olympics + WGPF + All England + Japan Open = Badmintoncentral Olympic slam!! Perhaps in the past only Ge Fei and Gu Jun reached these dizzy heights. Unfortunately, we have no prize fund to award from. At best, we could e-mail the respective winner(s). )
Why WGPF + All England + Japan Open ??? the only thing they are in common is that they are all held on tiny islands. Name some more bigger tournaments for recommendation (By the way, they are fully qualified for your list because they are on some even smaller islands) Korean Open: Cheju Island Singapore open: Singapore island Denmark open: Sjaelland island Indonesia open: Java island The only big open tournament not on island is China open, so it was cancelled. Is badminton a water sport ?
HAHAHAHA.... alwez thought Java was quite a big (not as huge as Sumatra but big enuff) island though! I guess Cheung used the AE and Japan Open because they are s'pposedly the most prestigious Open tournaments. AE in historical terms.... not too sure abt Japan - never understood why it was so special anyway. As for WGPF, I s'ppose it's THE tournament of all IBF sanctioned Open tournaments. Adel
Quite correct Adel. For Japan, most of the top players will attend this tournament consistently. All England has it's history dating back to 1899.
in 1996 Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky won in Olympics, WGPF, All England and Japan Open. in 1997 Ge Fei and Gu Jun won World Champs, WGPF and All England and Japan Open. in 1996 Ge Fei and Gu Jun won in Olympics, WGPF and All England, but runner-up in Japan Open.
Badminton Grand Slam, I will like to know. Are there grand slam tournaments in badminton? Has it been defined yet? I know Olympics and World Championship are considered as super events. But they only come by every four years or every other year. In terms of yearly events, what tournament/s would you define as badminton grand slam? In my opinion, All England should be one of them and since I am a Chinese, I say China Open is a major tournament also.
With the passage of time, the world championships have become an annual event. No more WGPF. Our China fans won't accept not having the China Open in. Stability of holding the event would be a crucial inclusion factor. Since I am living in HK, I will not say HK fulfills this criteria. For such an event, I think a past history of high profile dubious line calls would be an exclusion criteria. So where does that leave us? Denmark Open? Singapore Open (but didn't that get cancelled one year after the Asian crisis). Even Taufik might get interested in a grand slam but only after he achieved it and not beforehand .
the grand slam offers the highest money right? surely all players will give their best and go for it.. hard to predict who will win as all players will be very determined to win for monetary sake.
no. not really. the WC and Olympics do not have any prize money. also, Cheung's choices of grand slam tournaments are not the highest prize money tournaments either, at their time before SS tournament, they are only 4 star tournaments. i believe Cheung chose them because they are the most prestigious.
The grand slam in tennis doesn't offer the highest prize money, it is the ATP Masters! The grand slam is considered the oldest tournaments like the All England.
badminton and tennis is two different thing. two worlds apart. never compare badminton with other racket sports. badminton is unique in its own sense.
If that is your logic then every sport is unique in their own sense. A tournament's prestige is measured by its long history just like the grand slam tournaments. Prize money doesn't guarantee prestige. The Grand Prix finals use to offer the highest prize money just like the ATP Masters but now is dead. How prestigious is that? People will always remember an All England champion and how many times that player won there just like the World Championship and the Olympics. Other Open tournaments cannot compete with All England no matter how many stars you give them and how much prize money is offered. If you win All England your name goes with the legends of badminton that goes back more than a hundred years. Now that is prestigious! That is why Malaysia makes a big deal of winning the All England MD after 25 years. We are also still waiting for someone to beat Rudy Hartono's 8 All England titles record. People care less about other open tournaments records unless you are a national of the country that holds that open torunament. (eg a Malaysian cares about Malaysian Open, an Indonesian cares about Indonesia Open etc).
i think that a tournament can only be eligible to be considered a grand slam event if all the players make an effort every time to attend it if possible. for instance, the All-England. players train for it, look forward to it, feel it's an achievement to win it and are utterly dissapointed if they can't make it through injury or whatever other circumstances. tournaments that offer the highest prize money but don't have a star studded attendance shouldn't be considered.
the BWF aim is to promote badminton throughout the world. it aims for publicity and interest from the citizens from different country. the Malaysia Open will help generate badminton fans from Malaysia. All England will generate fans from England. Badminton made its debut in Olympics only in 1992 but it is still considered as the most prestigious event sought by players. if All England aimed to be as prestigious as Olympic, it should not be held every year. the World Championship lost its glittering just because it is held yearly. prestigious in not all about history but it is also about the frequency of the tournament. if we forward the message to BWF saying that badminton is all about All England, badminton will die one day. badminton is a sport which is played in every country and has fans from all corners of the world.
Badminton may have only been in olympics since 1992, but its roots is traced to thousands of years ago, and in its modern form 1896. I agree prestige of a tournament is gained by the frequency (althletes delay retirement and plan their development around olympics), however if the Peru open was played every 8 years then would it have more prestige? I doubt it. History is the biggest factor IMHO note I say history not longevity. maybe that is why Hong Kong Cancelled their open a few years back........to gain prestige !!
I find it surprising that many people here think the Olympics is a prestigious title. In my mind, the AE, WC and TC are the most prestigious titles of all. In the last 10 years, the Olympics has become a cash cow and many professional sports shun at the idea that the Olympics is prestigious. Olympic tennis? What a joke... The only thing that is truly prestigious for the olympics are the track and fields and swimming.
But arguably Badminton is not a professional sport- in the sense that players make money themselves from it. certainly I do not know any player who is completely self sufficient (arguably Chen Hong is now, but he does not require as many coaches etc.. and it may opnly be short term). Yes Football, Tennis, Basketball is not prestigious, but for more or less every other "non-professional" sport it is.