Actually a few weeks ago, Lin Dan has once again announced at a certain official opening of a commercial event that he will return to the national team to resume winter training next January to sometime in February, after which he will be in active competition (from March 2014) to garner ranking points as quickly and as much as possible. Whilst it's true the BWF president Larsen has expressed his willingness to grant Lin Dan a wild card again this time for the 2014 WC in Copenhagen should he somehow not qualify the normal way, I believe Lin Dan is aware of the necessity and importance of raising his world ranking to a sufficiently high level in good time if he is serious about aiming for the Rio 2016 Olympics. In fact Lin Dan has commented as much to that effect. Personally, I'm also not sure if Lin Dan is keen to play in the 2014 WC. This year's WC was different and special in that he was first taken by surprise by the wild card issuance and, more importantly, the event was held in his home country, his wife's hometown to boot, so he felt duty-bound to participate.Well, we'll know the answer when the time comes.
A few weeks is a long time. We have know learnt the relationship between him and LYB may not be so cosy. And then, Lin Dan may be signing an equipment sponsorship deal. It's complicated......
For real?!?!?! I never expected that the BWF president would promise LD for a wild card. Why should LD get a free wild card again if there are a lot other potential good players from other countrys who'd wish to get a wild card. Why give the wild card to a multiple world and olympic champion who was too lazy to attend in some few superseries tournaments? Expressing the willingness of the bwf president sounds pretty like a guaranteed wild card. This is additionaly a reason why LD would not try too hard to qualify for the WC2014. For real, he's a great champion, but he doesn't deserve a wild card just because he was "too busy". Fans of other players can't blame him for his greatness, but for sure his lazyness should he get the wild card again. And honestly, the other MS players from the china squad deserves a slot as well. So my opinion is: As long LD is not at least the second best ranked chinese, he doesn't deserve a slot in the WC2014. Why should DPY, WZM and so on work hard on theirself if they have to skip WC2014 just because the great LD decided to participate? @Justin L : You have any source links for your comment?
'Willingness' and 'promise' are two different meanings so in this context, it's probably better to be err on the side of caution and not use the word 'promise'. I interpret 'willingness' as an intention to consider the wild card based on its merits. That includes all the arguments that we had before in the http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/126864-LIN-DAN-got-wild-card http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/127280-Lin-Dan-WILDCARD-to-the-2013-World-Championships-Yes-or-no?highlight=wild+card+lin+dan In fact, I consider Lin Dan getting another wild card as a real possibility even more so now. The decision to award him a wild card in the 2013 WC generated huge interest and controversy without BWF having to spend extra money on marketing. That he won was even better. The final was a no-lose situation for BWF. A second wildcard to BWF for LD in the next WC would be a marketing coup. Lin Dan is obviously not in decline and LD's presence will have people glued to the screens talking about badminton (whether he wins or loses). If I put myself in BWF's shoes, that is exactly what I want - more people to talk about badminton.
Hi [MENTION=79732]Accordaz[/MENTION] , it's here (in Mandarin), thanks to pcll99 who first posted the link at Lee CW's thread http://gzdaily.dayoo.com/html/2013-10/21/content_2426253.htm . Cheung is right, a willingness to consider granting a wild card to Lin Dan for the 2014 WC as expressed by the BWF president is not the same as a promise to do so. I also fully concur with his view above, post #4131. But,personally, I don't see why not and fully support the BWF president Larsen should he decide to do so when the time comes. Look how great the last WC turned out, need I say more ! Another reason which I hold is that a defending champion should have automatic qualification as is happening in quite a few professional sports/games. What's more, a true world champion is one who is able to beat all the best in the world and prove it by not avoiding him unless it's not his fault as when the best player is knocked out by someone else. Anyway, much of this topic has already been discussed and debated elsewhere in the relevant threads listed by Cheung, no point covering the same ground here.
I may have misused the word promise in the first sentence, but I know the difference. Whatever, even willingness is not fair. The automatic qualification of the defending champion would be a fair option for all, yes. I would support this. This would result in using the wild card for that what it usually has to be used for: Talented players who couldn't qualify by a margin or by any other circumstances. And not for olympic and world champions who could qualify for the WC easily. Of course it's a win situation for BWF, but on the other side: How about Fairplay?
Just change the rule and give automatic qualification to the defending champion, whatever tournaments, case closed. And the defending champion can spend the whole year honeymooning. Then give the wild card to other deserving players.
Every match in the World Championship was potentially LD's last match. I couldn't get to Guangzhou in the earlier days but I reckon the press were there in full force for every match for what was LD's potentially last ever match. The images I got of that final, to me, are worth a huge amount. The wildcards are there for that purpose - to generate interest. If a huge talent can generate the same press interest as LD can, for sure that person will be considered for a wildcard. I think BWF also retain the right not to extend a wildcard as well. So, the criteria is more about development of the game, marketing potential, sponsor potential etc for the tournament and game overall rather than the individual player.
My goodness, we are still talking about the wild card? The wild card question should be why BWF took the wild cards away from the hands of the host. As so happened, that change in the rule took place at the most inopportune time. If that change was made to handcuff China, it just backfired on BWF. Just give the wild cards back to the tournament host as a reward. That's just a common custom in all sports.
Agree! Should be better if BWF make a specific rules for defending-champion-automatic-qualifying for all disciplines (if they really planned something about this) rather than year by year we-awarding-it-to-anyone-can-attract-more-viewers thing. With solid rules then maybe this automatic qualifying thing could became more acceptable to any objected players and fans.
