The Korea Open is back in Seoul after 4 consecutive years in other cities. This is the first year I've seen current information published so far in advance of the event. They've already put the location up on the website as well as information on organizing staff, entry deadline, official hotel, etc. all in English. They are once again offering the most prize money of any tournament of the year and, at US$300,000, possibly the largest prize package ever for badminton. I've only been keeping track since 2002 and I'm sure it's the most since then. Someone correct me if I have erred in assuming that prize money has simply been rising over time. I just hope we get the competitors. The Hong Kong Open is the following week but I'm worried that both of them are too close to the World Championships.
Good incentive on rewards, but will it burn-out the players before the WC considering the WC is slated to start mid-late September.. Whoah..$300,000..?!?!.. ..Sorry, what do you mean by "once-again"? Have the Korean Open offered the same prize money before??..I assume this Korean Open is a 6-star tourney??..But what is the limit of prize money for a 6* tourney?? I believe the recent Indonesian Open, which is 6-starred, prize money offered @ $250,000... IMO, that's a very attractive prize money and *should* attract all the top players/pairs in the world..
No. By "once again", I mean that Korea's prize money is the highest on the circuit in 2006, just as I believe it was in 2002 or 2003 if not other years. At any rate, every year since 2002, the Korea Open has been alone at the top or tied for the top prize money on offer. All the 6* tournaments I've seen up until now offered $250,000 so I'm guessing that is the 6* minimum. Yes, theoretically, but as you pointed out, the players might not want to burn out before the WC. Also, the prize money hasn't been enough in the past to prevent a lot of high-profile absentees. Zhang Jun has only played in the Korean Open once this century, Lin Dan and Gao Ling haven't been at the Korean Open since 2002, Zhang Ning, Xie Xingfang, Chen Hong and Bao CL skipped it in '03 and '05. Taufik showed up only once in those four years, sick, to lose in the first round against a Spaniard in '04. Candra/Sigit skipped it from 2002 and 2003 but made it the last two years.
I have very high regards of The Koreans.They mean business in whatever they do.They are showing the way to other nations that one of the ways to improve the popularity of badminton is to offer better cash incentives to the professional players.For the kind of money,they are offering Iam sure all the top players will not miss the chance to have a crack of it.Kudos to the BA of Korea.
Yes the Koreans are setting very high standards, not only in prize monies but also in raising their technical standards. Korean players are much respected in whatever tournament they participated. Most recently, their junior boys have proven they are the best in Asia, even outsmarting the Chinese. Their men's doubles have made such great impact in the badminton world for a long time although the other countries have recently caught up and left the Koreans a little behind. While many other countries find the Chinese women doubles almost unbeatable, I think the Korean ladies have proven this wrong once a while. The Koreans will return to the high pedestal in the not too distant future. We just hope that the North Koreans will not spoil the party with their missile antics.
With this big prize...this is a must-participate tournament...Full Team!!! Now Korea Open will soon be classified as the 3 most prestigious tournaments: 1. Olympics 2. World Championships 3. Korean Open Bravo Korea!!!
I'm not sure about describing the Korean Open as the "most prestigious" though. One cannot just associate high prize money alone with prestige although high prize money can certainly influence its status. If an IBF Grand Prix event can attract the best in the world to participate in large numbers on a regular basis, then that will be a very prestigious event indeed! But, as revealed, in the past the Korean Open has not been as well supported by the world's best as it should if prize money is the only criterion. On the other hand, the 4-star All England has been one of the world's most prestigious, apart from the Olympics and WC, since its inception although the prize money remains relatively paltry. Certainly, even today, the AE is more prestigious than the KO. One cannot but be reminded of AE's colourful history, its stature as the birthplace of world badminton, the superstars that had passed through the years, the famous names that had managed and organized the tournament, the support given by the royalty, the splendour of its prize presentation ceremonies, etc, etc. So it is not just the hardware or the prize money, the software also counts.
I think you are correct on all counts. I hadn't even considered the splendour aspect. Interesting. Another thing that comes into play is history, even in quantitative terms. The Korea Open only dates back to 1990. At that time, the Singapore and Japan Opens, to name two, were already established events. I don't know how the other events like the Indonesian, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Denmark Opens compare in terms of just plain number of years, but Korea still seems to be in the process of establishing a tradition. I wish the prize money worked better than it has so far but Korea is getting its act together in other ways, too, I think. I hope it pays off.
So far, the Aviva Singapore Open has been the most well-organized GP event apart of the All-England and World Championships. Timely updates, live scores, live-televised finals, decent-size crowds and nice venue. What more can you expect from a badminton tournament? The next will be most of the European events. Even a 2-3* tournament like the Holland Open or Swiss Open are better organized than most of the other Asian events. They offer live scores! Despite the 6* ratings, the Indonesia Open was poorly organized with lack of updates sometimes even wrong. The other recent events like the Macau Open and Philippines Open were also poor. We have to wait one whole day just to get an update from its official website. The Malaysia and Chinese Taipei Opens were slightly better in the sense that we can at least have live telecasts from QFs. On the other hand, Thailand has been pretty good with its tournaments. Both the Satellite and the Open (rated A and 3*) have timely updates (no live scoring though) which make it convenient for us to post updates and discuss the happenings as soon as we receive the news. I hope they keep up with this good work in the upcoming years. As for the upcoming Korea and HK Opens, I am very skeptical that they will be as good as the Thailand Open...despite their 6* ratings I think IBF and BadmintonAsia need to put up a requirement that ALL TOURNAMENTS use the tournamentsoftware.com. Even a 2* rated NZ Open use it for next week's tournament!
Ridiculously BAD food and drinks vendor; lousy food/drinks, limited quantity, etc. TWO wonderful tables to cater to an entire stadium. Irritating man-in-charge with a funny accent, pose and doesn't know how to operate the cash register. Lackluster festive atmosphere. In fact, I only remembered hearing one announcement of Singapore's Kenderick Lee will be signing autographs at the main foyer. Besides that, I don't see much events happening during the Singapore Open. Oh, regarding the tournament software, it is difficult for IBF to insist on organisers using internet technology or any particular software unless lower-grade ones are exempted. Its because not all the tournaments are big-budget and not all targeted local audiences are internet-capable. At the end of the day, the priority for the organisers is to attract local interest and awareness and hope audiences pay to see it and not to satisfy curious foreigners who doesn't contribute directly to the bottomline at all. Unless they can charge a fee for viewing live scores which can be paid by credit cards or PayPal? That may motivate the organisers. The fundamental law is there's no free lunch.
The just concluded Thailand Open have proved my point on the abilities of the Korean team. Out of five finals, the Koreans featured in four of them, with the exception of MS. And they won 3 titles: XD, WD and MD (walkover from compatriots). And on TV I saw Tan Kim Her talking to his Korean players during the WD break. Malaysia's WD team of Wong Pei Tty and Chin Ei Hui lost to the same Korean pair of Lee Kyong Won and Lee Jung Hyo during the semis 19-21, 11-21. That was Malaysia's contribution to Korea and it will only be logical to take Kim Her back home for next year. And for Korea to take back Park Joo Bong from Japan! But what happens if Rexy should be recalled back by mighty Indonesia? In the finals, the Korean girls trounced their Thai counterparts, Saralee and Satinee, 21-18, 21-9! But the Thai girls have done very well already to have gone this far! They have beaten the strong Danish pair of Lena Frier and Kamilla Juhl 21-14, 16-21, 21-7 in the SF.
This year Korea Open will be very exciting. Don't worry about people going to watch even HK open is near. If i'm crazy enough i might drop by.
We'll be looking fw to your shares of good times.. Yes, we(at least i myself) will be ecstatic if you can share some of the close up encounters and experiences...and since most likely you will be the only BC representative in the Korean Open, if you don't mind taking and share some pics with us...
