IBF Deputy President, Punch Gunalan, was featured on CNA's (Channel News Asia) Prime Time Morning today. He was interviewed on the development of badminton in general and the latest changes in particular. I did not catch the entire interview but was surprised to see him on TV at about 8.12 this morning. The following is a summary of his views and answers: 1. Though badminton has been treated as a "Garden" game by many (in the US particularly), Olympics Atlanta 1996 was an eye-opener. Spectators who were first exposed to the game never thought it to be so demanding and they were amazed by the speed at which the game was played and the power of the smash. After the first day of competition, spectators kept coming back for more. 2. The domination of badminton by Asia and the move of IBF Headquarters from Europe (UK) to Asia (KL) may have been misconstrued that the game has waned in Europe. It is unfortunate that Europe has not been able to win many international titles and people may see it as a reflection of Europe not doing enough to develop the game there. On the contrary, the popularity of badminton has increased in Europe. 3. The IBF has to change to keep up with times and to rival tennis in particular. In this regard, IBF is looking into the following areas: a) Time taken to complete a match has been too long. Consideration should be given to the demands on the players and on spectators, who cannot be expected to wait too long for the result (say 5 hours for team events like the Thomas Cup). b) Regarding court changes, IBF may do away with the doubles back line to allow the doubles server to serve to the baseline as in singles. Unfortunately, the interviewers did not touch on other proposed changes like scoring. Neither did they ask about sponsorship; the technical aspects of shooting badminton matches for the TV; how to make badminton commentary more interesting to viewers; what other steps IBF is taking to enhance the image of the game or the performance of players, particularly from less-badminton-dominant countries; etc.
I am quite satisfied with malaysia's top badminton commetator (Hasbdullah Awang's) performance... maybe the rest can try learn from him... He really knows about badminton. When the game comes into critical moment, he would sometimes recall a same situation that had happened before. And I like the best when he recall some examples when the trailing player is trying to level a big score gap, for example 9-14, 1-10 etc. He would say," One more. One more. Wan Wah has to be calm. Do you still remember, how Liem Swee King(or Rudy?, I've forgotten) won the game when trailing 1-14? Do you still remember, how Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen defeat Dong Jiong although trailing 1-13?" And when the camera is focused on someone on the bench or spectator seats, he would immediately introduce that person to us, telling us about that person's names, achievenments, and sometimes what the person is doing now. He will sound like this," Ahhhh, that's Susi Susanti!!, who has won everything that she can except the Asian Games Champion, defeated by Yonekura Kanako in Hiroshima in 1994... won the Olympic Champion in 1992 together with lover Alan Budi Kusuma.. etc etc bla bla bla......" or sometimes in a 'calm' mood "Tang Xianhu.. bla bla bla etc etc..." This is very good to let people know more about badminton especially in a country where badminton is less popular. Sound so exciting!!
I am total disagree with his sentences up here. If he will compare Badminton to Tennis, good. Let us see ! How long does tennis take to finish a match ? Shorter than Badminton ? The answer is always NEVER. Just look at Roland Garros men singel final between Nadal vs Puerta ! It took more than 3 hours to finish the macht (1 match). Compare it to Sudirman Cup final between China vs Indonesia, how long it took ? About 3 hours, but for 3 matches Now, look at the (team event) David Cup ! How long does tennis take to finish a team event final ? Shorter than Badminton ? The answer is NEVER. David Cup has to take 3 days to finish the final. And how about Badminton ? Just 1 night. As a Badminton icon how can he said that (I cite) : "..... spectators, who cannot be expected to wait too long for the result". According to my opinion, Badminton of today has all the aspects which it needed to be populer. I think Badminton is already populer, but worldwide not populer enough compare to Tennis. The question is "How to make Badminton as populer as Tennis (for example) ?" To do that, it should not necessary by changing it rule of play, but professional marketing management is needed. The right question should be : "How to sell Badminton to the world ?" In my opinion, this is also another ridiculous move. As we know double is an attacking game, to limit the service to the double-service-line is one of the reasons to make Badminton more attractive. Gunalan will make Badminton pupoler -in the other word- more attractive, but in the other hand he wants to remove the double-service-line. Maybe he is still sleeping when he did the interview.
I completely agree with you jkusmanto, I hope Punch Gunalan will change his mind very quickly, otherwise I think our only hope for badminton's future is him being thrown out of IBF!
although to be fair to the tennis people, sometimes the davis cup squad plays in both singles and doubles so a days rest is ok but i can't believe what he said...we dont watch badminton to see who wins..we watch the actual game, who cares if it's 30mins, 90min or 120mins
Agreed.While some Badminton lovers come to watch badminton as such,some other fans come to watch only their favourite players play.What good does it do if u are some player's fan and u can catch him in action only for half an hour.Nooo ..this is stupid.example-most denmark fans would like to watch only danish players in action and it does not make much sense in reducing the time of play,coz they cant catch them for too long.
And some badminton players compete in level doubles and mixed doubles. Mia Audina in singles and doubles.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the game of badminton.It is exciting,pulsating,mind-boggling,a supercharged awesome game that given the correct and widest possible exposure the whole world would love it.So please don't we meddle with the scoring nor the rules of the game.If at all there is any flaw,IBFshould consider the aspect of marketing the game more aggressively.
I can't agree more with kokcheng. IBF must make badminton more interesting and accessible to TV viewers and spectators alike! IBF should package badminton so attractively that the sponsors just can't resist competing for a slice of the marketing and adverstising pie. The IOC is meeting in Singapore soon to decide which of the five cities, Paris, London, Madrid, Moscow or New York will get to host Olympics 2012. And each of these cities, quite akin to sponsors in other sports events, will have to spend billions of dollars to spruce up their facilities and infrastructure just to attract IOC attention to consider them as worthwhile candidates. You have probably seen on TV how the French has just put up a grand and colourful show in Paris to demonstrate that they mean serious business. But IBF has so far not been able to attract the big boys. Why? The French Tennis Open at Roland Garros has just gone by. But see how the Finals were played out in the open in such a huge, packed and imposing stadium just for a tiny game like tennis. See how this young, newfound superstar, Nadal, has captured the imagination and adoration of the crowd? This is not European soccer nor American football with many more players on the field. Just merely 2 or 4 people fighting it out on the clay courts and how the crowd warmed up to the occasion and responded with what we in Singapore called the "Kallang Wave"! See how the spectators showed their disapproval when the umpire was not doing a good job! They communicate and can literally delay the game at will. And all these actions were telecast live throughout the world. Sponsors will be thrilled with the marketing effort and the worldwide exposure and publicity they're getting! I only wish badminton can really match tennis this way. But when will it be? Wimbleton is around the corner and we would expect the same keen rivalry on grass courts. Live telecast of these tennis matches especially during the semis and finals is a foregone conclusion. Tennis is being exported throughout the world this way and more people will get to know the game. But what about Badminton? Much of the past live telecasts of important matches didn't even reach the shores of the Americas, Europe and other badminton-loving countries! IBF seems to lack that marketing power for the time being. It has to reach out to more sponsors, more countries and more spectators to be able to rival tennis in this aspect. As to the time taken, on an individual match-to-match basis, tennis matches certainly last longer than badminton matches in general. There were a few times in the past that certain IBF GP events went past mid-night, but this was not due to individual matches lasting more than 2 hours! Rather it was due to the organizational aspects, when the organizers try to squeeze too many events and matches in one day and not giving sufficient consideration to matches lasting 3 games instead of 2. Of course the rather tight scheduling has taken a toll on the players, offcials and spectators. It was the schedule that went wrong but now, with past experience, this has been rectified to some extent by an additional day or two. As to the proposed change to the doubles baseline, even as it is without the change, the server can still trick the receiver, who tries to anticipate a kill at the net, with a sudden flick serve and win a point. Therefore is it necessary to eradicate the front baseline?
Like I said in the upper thread, IBF need to create Professional Marketing Department and hire a professional team who incharge to bind Badminton events into a 'show package' to sell, especially to the big TVs. If ATP and WTA can do it, why IBF can't ??? Why European TV can/want to broadcast Roland Garros 6 hours a day in 2 weeks ? Whereas nothing for Badminton ??? Like kokcheng said: "There is absolutely nothing wrong with the game of badminton. It is exciting, pulsating, mind-boggling, a supercharged awesome game that given the correct and widest possible exposure the whole world would love it." If Mr. GUNALAN said that he (IBF) will change something to make Badminton more populer/attracktive, then he is the first person who should resign from IBF. One thing I am sure about is : Badminton is not populer in Europe (except in some countries like Denmark, England, Netherland) and North America. Or Badminton is 2 level below Tennis. But now US has already stepped into the Badminton world by organizes WC 2005 in Anaheim, California. I am sure that the Olympic Game 2012 will be held in Paris or London. Both of these countries have good Badminton players, especially England. And I hope that in this biggest international sport event, Badminton can get more chance to show to the other countries -especially Europe countries- that Badminton is not a backyard sport. IBF has to use this opportunity. Now all depend on IBF, but no depend on Mr. GUNALAN.
Damn straight. He has failed his duties miserably. No doubt bout it. So what if he was a good player, he is a horrible marketing man. Keeps making posts for himself... PAH. Nonsense. He oughta go.
