well, it seems to be an executive decision by LYB to rest the players, given that the Finals don't count towards Olympic qualification points. I guess it just shows how determined China is to sweep all the golds in the Olympics. Or maybe this is LYB's punishment for China's failure to win at least 3 golds in the Guangzhou SS?
I'm not suprised by that move. It is their silent way of boycotting the Finals after what happened during the China Open. Many people are already putting them in hot soup due to the controversies surrounding it. Olympics is in August. There is ample of time for them to rest actually.
close, it's snake/lizard or chicken blood. turtle blood slows u down http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7043&highlight=lizard
What a slap in the face for BWF if indeed this happens. The SS Finals is supposed to be the showcase event for them and yet they have no authority for make CHN attend. It doesn't auger well for the sport as advertisers and potential revenue sources too may give it a miss. At the moment, the professional badminton structure is weak and China has to realise that their withdrawal can do some future damage to it. In a sense, China needs to display some responsibility towards growing badminton. Without China's support, the sport could be set back a bit, which BWF can ill afford. BWF has to show some backbone and initiative to ensure China's attendance. It'll be a shame if their withdrawal really happens, but it just goes to show which dog is wagging BWF's tail.
Hehe, do you really think BWF has backbone? Rather than forcing the attendance of somebody, BWF should give priority to introducing cameras into tournaments & regulations. That way, everyboy gets a fair game. Mouth-watering only contributes to global warming a bit.
Badminton Super Series events are good for Chen Hong Greetings, Well... this withdrawal of China from the Super Series shows how different Badminton is from Tennis. When BWF were planning their Super Series Events, they were thinking of holding them for the individual players, and not for the representatives of nations. BWF was trying to have players like what ITF (International Tennis Federation) have done... just compare the Grand Slam and Masters events in Tennis with their inter-nations events, like Davis Cup, Hopman Cup, etc... Unfortunately, BWF failed to realise that Badminton players, at the present moment, are usually attached to their national teams structure. BTW, for China this is good news for Chen Hong... for he would be able to play without any interference from LYB and/or the China Badminton Association. Cheers... chris@ccc ***
Please note: a. Chen Hong needs China Federation to register him in this event.....if China really withdraws, I do not think that they will register CH at all... b. BWF could not do same as ITF or WTA series final as they have alreadly limted the number of entries per country. As long as the badminton players could not register their names for the events ( still have to go thru their Federation), it will remain...will not be individual....( I had discussions with Tony G, Rexy and Hendrawan during breakfast)
Professional Badminton players to have their own rights Hi huangkwokhau, If what you have said is true, then I am most disappointed. I will be hoping that ONE DAY, Badminton players can have the right to play for himself/herself too, not just for their countries. I just hope that all National Badminton Associations around the world will follow what Soccer, Basketball, Tennis, etc... have been doing all along, that is to give their players some freedom (to be professionals in their own rights). Cheers... chris@ccc ***
LYB has in many many occasions stressed the fact that the relatively poor performance of their player is due to over playing. they attended most of the SS events in order to gain olympic points at the expense of not able to do any systematic training that China believe strongly in, on top of that, the exertion from too many tournaments also caused a lot of injuries. if the SS finals don't have olympic points, then it makes sense for them to skip it and then rest their players so they can be fresher to play tourneys that do count towards olympics. olympics at this point is the #1 agenda in china, money is no object.
In another interview which I've translated and posted in another thread, LYB explained that they need 35 consecutive days of quality training prior to TC/UC and OG. They didn't have that since May 1, 2007 due to the hectic competition schedule. They have to prioritize rather than being greedy. BTW, SS Finals will not offer World Ranking points (apart from no OG ranking points) either?
Anyway, without CHN's participation, let's see what the line-up may look like according to present SS rankings, MS: LCW, PG, KJ, SDK, BP, Simon, Shoji, Hafiz (Taufik needs to participate in HK SS and advance to at least one round ahead of Hafiz to be qualified) WS: PHY, XHW, WC, YPY, WMC, Tine, Petya, YJ MD: KKK/TBH, MK/HS, TG/CW, JE/MLH, CTF/LWW, JJS/LYD, Jap pair, Polish pair - tricky ... CW takes up 1/2 INA's seat, which might deny 2 other INA pairs' (who ranked immediately behind JJS/LYD) chances WD: LKW/LHJ, GE/DK, Jap pair, JYM/LYJ, CYC/CWH, Endang/Rani, Jap pair (2), CEH/WPT XD: NR/GE, Nova/Lilyana, Flandy/Vita, AC/DK, Thomas/Kamilla, Sudket/Saralee, Polish pair, HS/LYJ Not attractive anymore.
In any way, without China's Participation in Super Series Finals, this tournament will lose its PRESTIGE since more than half of the top badminton players are from China at the momment. And the sponsors of this tourney (if there are some who have dealed already) will think twice... BWF should make an appropriate action to handle this.
Just scrap the SS Final. No date, no place, no sponsor, no China, no point. This shows just how badly managed WBF is. Apparently the current adminstrators are not good enough to bring badminton to the new height. If they really love the game, they should let other more capable to run the organisation. I still remember the case of fixing the BWF HQ early this year, yet there is no closure to it.
At least LYB has made a valid point - hectic year-round schedule with 12 SS, WC or OG, SC or TC/UC ... that means 14 world-class events per year (and I'm not counting AG or continental championships). Top players are worn up and yet no more quality training. Really, no point having SS Finals unless they cut down at least 2 SS tournaments.