In tennis, to be recognized as a Grand Slam winner, u hav to win the Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Open In golf, u hav to win the Masters, US Open, British Open and PGA Championship In table tennis, u hav to win the OG, WC and World Cup I wonder whether we have one for badminton?? If we don't have, maybe I will just suggest some definition of badminton Grand Slam, just for own pleasure : winner of Olympic Games and World Championship and All England and World Grand Prix Final and respective continental games (for example, Asiad ie Asian Games) p/s: this is posted here before before it seems more like a BC grand slam http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2116&highlight=grand+slam
IMHO, to be considered true grand slam winner, you must win these events a) Olympic Gold b) Thomas/Uber Cup c) World Championships d) All-England
I can see where u r coming from... these events u mentioned r perhaps the highest standards at present moment. But Thomas/Uber Cup is a team event; and Olympic Games takes place just once every four years. World Championships used to be once every two years but i think it has been changed to become an annual competition now. IMHO badminton still lacks the kind of strong tradition as we see in tennis. All-England is perhaps the only tournament qualified but it seems like it has failed to attract some big names at times (taufik being the notable absentee). So to me... badminton still needs a lot of hard work to catch up with tennis. Perhaps in another 5 to 10 years to come we will have our own elite tournaments and a grand slam of our own... hopefully!
With the current set of tournaments available, I'd say: - All England - China Open - Denmark Open - Malaysia/Indonesia Open (up for a debate) Thomas/Uber Cups are equivalent to Davis/Federation Cups. The Olympics is, well, the Olympics. Don't know what would be the equivalent of the World Championship in tennis is. May be the traditionally season ending Masters tournament. Which is, BTW, why I don't include the WC in the 4 above, because it's not an open tournament.
didn't there use to be some tournaments classified as 'majors'? All England (unofficial World championships until 1977) World Championships (prev run only every other year) World Cup (revived this year but little glitz or glamor) World Grand Prix Finals (only the top 16 ranked players by GP points accumulated). Unfortunately now it seems only the WC maintains the status of an elite event.
even though olympics is once every 4 years, and thomas/uber cup is team event; to be considered Grand Slam winner you must hold all four titles at once. a) If you can maintain high standards over 4 years to qualify and win the Olympic gold, who can doubt ur consistency and class? b) if you are part of Tomas/Uber cup winning team, who can doubt you are not in a World Champion badminton country? It means, Grand Slam winner can be best individually and also best in team. Will doubt that badminton can ever match tennis in terms of sponsorship and worldwide audience. Frankly, a sport dominated by Asians can never hope to achieve that, unless Asia can lead the world. In tennis, the champions are most caucasians and since caucasian countries dominate world economy, that's why tennis is so well sponsored. IMHO, badminton is most complete sport bcos it involves movements of the entire body e.g. jumps, skips, lunges, forward movements, backwards movements, sideways movements, wristwork, arm strength, lighting-quick reflexes. From the most powerful of smashes to the most delicate deceptive net touch. It also requires extreme physical conditioning and mental toughness. badminton covers all aspects of human athletic movement. no other sports come close. its the complete sport.
Many will think that winning the following events will be considered a Grand Slam: 1. Olympics (once every four years) 2. World Championships (held twice a year previously, now annually except in the Olympic years, like this year) 3. All England (prestige) 4. Asian Games individual event (once every four years for Asian players) or European championships (once every two years for European players)
Commonwealth Games & BAC??.. ..how about: - The Commonwealth Games, similar to Asian Games (which is held every 4 yrs)? - And the annual Badminton Asia Championships (used to be called Asian Badminton Championships), which is probably the same as the European Championships sans the team event??.. Also note, only the first 3 events, along with EC & BAC, are IBF/BWF sanctioned events; whilst the AG, along with the CG, are not. If only they have the European Games...hmm.. Oh, btw, the first 2 on your list, that's considered Pemuda's 2 highest badminton tourneys/events.
Slam, Grand Slam, Super Grand Slam For now, I would go with just three: The Olympic Games The World Championships The All England Open If a better line-judging system were in place , I'd include five more: The China Open The Malaysia Open The Indonesia Open The Denmark Open The Japan Open Win any two to make a Slam Win any five to make a Grand Slam Win all eight to make a Super Grand Slam Hinging a 'Grand Slam' on either the Asian Games or the Commonwealth Games (or on both) wouldn't make for an ideal rating. Without Denmark, England and the US, the Asian Games can't be accepted as a fair acknowledgement of supremacy in competition. And without China, the Commonwealth Games is a heavily degraded field. For instance, Li Li of Singapore was a gold medallist. Well...
Not even the mighty Taufik could might this requirement. Let's hope he will pick up the all English title this year.
Exactly....even the great Susi Susanti missed out on the Asian Games Gold Medal I think many ppl have underestimated the importance of the Asian Games (at least for Asian players)
Asian Games (and any other Continental championships) must be excluded for sure. AG = the tourney without everything (no prize money, no ranking points, unofficial tourney)
Unofficial tourney ?? In that case, ask them to cancel the Asian Games every 4 years Save money for Athletes. Yet, Team China still put a heavy emphasis on success in Asian Games
the proportion for young & inexperinced reached 63% in AG 06. this is the warm-up event for the big test in Beijing. with this younger athletes, still we are able to win 165 golds.
yes, thats true. AG = unofficial tourney of BWF. just the same with Invitational World Cup & Commonwealth Games
For me, it's got to be the Olympics, followed by the All-England, and then the World Championships. I still think the WC has lost some of its appeal since it became an annual event, i wish they would change it back to bi-annual.