Badminton: China drop Chen Hong for world meet The star online PETALING JAYA: China have dropped veteran men’s singles shuttler Chen Hong from their World Championships line-up in favour of Chen Yu in the Phase II list of qualifiers. But the bigger surprise was in the women’s doubles. They dropped world number one Yang Wei-Zhang Jiewen for the seventh ranked Du Jing-Yu Yang. China will still boast an awesome line-up in the men’s singles for the championships, which will be held at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from Aug 13-19. The others in the team are Lin Dan, Chen Jin and Bao Chunlai, who are now ranked at number one, two and six in the world respectively. For the World Championships, a country can have a maximum of four players or pairs in each event if they are ranked among the top eight in the world at the end of the qualification period. For the men’s doubles, China will be represented by world number one Fu Haifeng-Cai Yun and the 51st ranked Guo Zhendong-Xie Zhongbo. Haifeng-Cai Yun won the last two Super Series tournaments in Singapore and Indonesia earlier this month. In the women’s singles, China look unbeatable with the top four slots in the world rankings taken up by Xie Xingfang, Zhang Ning, Zhu Lin and Lu Lan respectively. In the women’s doubles, the Chinese will bank on Gao Ling-Huang Sui, Zhang Yawen-Wei Yili and Du Jing-Yu Yang to do the job for them. South Korean Lee Hyun-il, a bronze medallist in the last World Championships in Madrid last year, will not be in Kuala Lumpur even though he is the highest ranked Korean in the men’s singles from the Phase II list of qualifiers. The South Koreans have opted for Shon Seung-mo and Park Sung-hwan. Hyun-il, who is ranked 13th in the world, has been dropped from the national team for indiscipline.
CH cannot be tamed to toe LYB's line and is actually a treat to CHN MS winning the title...if CH meet LD, BCL or CJ, CH would play to win, therefore CH would have to be sacrificed.
i ain't surprised about the Chen Hong thingy. afterall, he ditched team China, so why would China let him enter. as for the women's dubs, the Yang Wei pair are world no.3 at the mo. also, they might want to rest them up. Du Jing and Yu Yang have done well in the Super Series, reaching semi's and quarters everytime.
From my point of view, we should let those player be idependent profesional instead of a national player just like tennis. This way the $$$ will be in the right hand instead of unneccessary people runnig some association.
There is not enough dough ($$$) in badminton tournaments to support independent professional badminton players to make a living like tennis. We are talking $200K for SS being a big deal, compared to US Open WS alone winning >US1million, MS earn even more. Badminton players need national team to supplement their earnings like incentive, living allowance, etc. Just think of the average badminton players who has won nothing, and if no govt support, they cannot survive. LCW, in 2006 is considered a marquee player...how many tournaments did he win and how much is the winnings, I bet those winnings cannot support his livelihood, let alone dating Miss Choo, hahaha! therefore LCW received incentive from BAM, etc to increase his earnings. As I said lots of times, badminton needs to expand to go mainstream, not staying regional as it is now. Badminton needs international media coverage, major sponsorships, etc. Your comments, I agree, but try explaining that to LYB who is concerned all about winning at any means for the party.
Surely all coaches are paid a salary not only to impart skills and know-how to the players but to ensure they win after all their year end appraisal is based on results. Ask Rexy, LM, Thomas SL (Den) and the rest and they will tell us they want their players to succeed. So much comments have been made about turning badminton into a more lucrative professional sport but it takes more than just one man or nation to do it. Perhaps it should start with the BWF and I believe they are trying. Gosh, am I on the right thread???
No wonder, Chen Hong case is similar with Lee Hyun Il. After quit from national squad, automatically their chances to compete in grand tourneys such as World Champ' and Olympic Games will become smaller or almost zero despite they have better WR than other compatriot. It's one risk in their bdm career!
both went out of the national squad, but Lee was for indiscipline, whilst Chen Hong requested to "retire". some difference. basicly, Lee found the training too taxing so he quit, he still plays, just doesn't train as much. Chen Hong actually talked about retiring and requested to do so, which he got permission for. then turned around and went individual.
I can't remember how many olympics has CH played. I wasn't surprised by the decision by LYB. In fact, it happened to Xia Xuan Ze to Athens Olympics as well. Well, LD, BCL and CJ are really lucky. For CY, I guess this could be his last WC.
If I am not wrong, Chen Hong play only once in Olympic 2004. Compare with his ex girlfriend Gao Ling who already play since Olympic 2000, 2004 and GL will play in Olympic 2008 for sure. (In MX, not very sure for WD)
I agree totally for the young and unestablished players. But for the big names, do they get endorsement money from advertisers like Yonex and others? Or do those money go to the team instead? I can imagine the more creative sport agents would figure out ways to extract enough money from advertisers to supplement the players income, especially players like LD, TH, LCW, etc. BTW, CH has switch to Victor rackets and shirts. Is that the deal?
TH gets more dough from PBSI from winning the majors like OLY, WC, as such TH does not need to participate in Opens events to increase his earnings. Endorsement, TH keeps them too, ditto for LCW or MAS players. For CHN players, they have to split half their earnings with the state, and I surmise the same for endorsement $$$. The reason is the state train these CHN players from nobody, and payback time when these players win Opens or gets endorsement. Therefore you can see these players have to toe the party line and play to a script as orchestrated by LYB. CH, because he split from the team, is sponsored by Victor and train outside of the CHN team, gets to keep all his earnings and does not need to kowtow to LYB, aren't we surprised he got booted out from the team for WC, not at all. Even though badminton is the second most played sport in the world after soccer, due to lack of TV, advertisement, etc., sponsorship $$$ is quite limited, after all, when the players played to empty stadiumss, nolive TV broadcast, what kind of exposure can Yonex get being the only main sponsor of the game...how many rackets Yonex can sell to warrant increasing sponsorship $$$. Just check at Superbowl (I have no idea what the heck is Superbowl until I came to N. America), a 30-second commercial is worth millions US$, therefore you can see the prize money is in the millions.
i doubt it's Chen Yu's last world champ. he's still pretty decent, and the chinese juniors still haven't come up yet so yeah, he'll be there for at least 2 years, maybe 3
It's not a question about whether CY can maintain his level to be qualified for WC. It's a question about whether CY can survive the harsh internal competition or not. Face all the fatigue, age, injuries and younger generation (they can come at any time) it's tough, tough, tough. If CH can be "let go", CY's path in front is not anywhere easier.
I have no doubt Chen Yu will do the same function as Chen Hong before, clearing up hurdles for other Chinese players enroute to title. Chen Yu may not be the favourite to win the title but he's more than capable to topple Lee Chong Wei, Peter Gade, Taufik Hidayat, Kenneth Jonassen, Boonsak Ponsana, ... Anyway, you really have to be good to win the World Championship plus a little bit of luck.
well Peter Gade is doing well at that. so is Zhang Ning. it's different for everyone, some age quicker than others, or lose form, like Xia Xuanze, we losthis form after 24 whereas Zhang Ning's still rolling. i don't think Chen Yu will fade out quite so soon.
