I don't know if this has been posted before : Courtesy of BAM : Wild Carded! Thursday, 09 May 2013 The Badminton World Federation’s decision to award a wild card to four-time world champion, Lin Dan of China for this years championships in Guangzhou from August 5-11 is setting a dangerous precedent. The 29-year-old took a long sabbatical after retaining the London Olympics last year and failed to qualify on merit for the tournament. However, the BWF’s Committee of Management (COM) for the World Championships has voted unanimously to award him the wild card where he will join teammates Chen Long (pic below), the World No. 2, Asian champion Du Pengyu and Wang Zheming in the men’s singles competition. Exercising its prerogative to nominate a wild-card entry in each category, the COM determined that Lin Dan’s stature and fan appeal would significantly enhance the championships. Despite his current ranking of 41, Lin Dan is still considered the best among the Chinese qualifiers. His inclusion as a wild card gives an unfair advantage to the Chinese players while affecting the chances of players from other countries. Malaysia’s own medal hope Dato Lee Chong Wei would also see his chances of claiming his first world title seriously affected. With Lin Dan unlikely to be seeded, there is a strong chance of him being drawn with Chong Wei or any other other seeded players early on. And that could even happen as early as the first round itself. It is surprising that the BWF failed to take this into consideration when they offered Lin Dan the wild card. Now that they have given Lin Dan a direct entry, the BWF should award Lin Dan with a preferential higher seeding. Preferential seedings is practised in tennis Grand Slams, allowing for a level playing field. If the BWF fails to do so, than they are responsible for the chaos they are going to unleash on the players who have worked hard for the past 12 months to qualify for the championships. That the wild card was given to a player who intentionally took a break from competition and not because he was injured is questionable. To be fair, neither Lin Dan nor China should be blamed for this as the onus was entirely on the BWF. Anyone in the same boat would have taken up such a silver plattered gift. It seems that the BWF is more interested in financial and cosmetic gains rather than the development of the sports. The wild cards could have easily been given to any of the reigning World Junior champions, if they have not qualified on merit. That would have been a move in the right direction.
Frankly, there's no need to split hairs over the reasons given for awarding wild cards whether for tennis,badminton or any other sport. For professional tennis, as I've cited: Professional tennis In professional tennis tournaments, a wild card refers to a tournament entry awarded to a player at the discretion of the organizers. All ATP and WTA tournaments have a few spots set aside for wild cards in both the main draw, and the qualifying draw, for players who otherwise would not have made either of these draws with their professional ranking. They are usually awarded to players from the home and/or sponsoring country (sometimes after a tournament where the winner is awarded the wild card), promising young players, players that are likely to draw a large crowd, have won the tournament earlier or players who were once ranked higher and are attempting a comeback. Some Grand Slam tournaments swap wild cards, like Australian Open,French Open and US Open[1]. I'm sure BWF COM's unanimous decision was made after looking at the big picture though all they said was " Lin Dan's stature and fan appeal would significantly enhance the championships". And don't forget, in pro tennis we're talking about millions of dollars in prize money, humongous sponsorships, multiple times larger viewership, massive fanbase, etc,etc, - in other words, incomparably greater stakes that matters a lot more to the players and organizers. Compared with badminton in all these aspects, we're nowhere near, a long,long way to go...yet,we're haggling over Lin Dan's wild card. I mean,whatever our personal agenda, let's be honest with ourselves and ask : " Is the world championships and badminton in general for the time being better off without Lin Dan?" I recall Dr Kang just before the London Olympics making a public appeal to Lin Dan not to retire too soon (not that he is indispensable but simply that his retirement should come in good time). To put it another way, BWF's main considerations are for badminton as a whole, not specifically for Lin Dan's sake or taking into account Lee CW's quest for a big title, or the goals of any individual/BA for that matter. Let's not bark up the wrong tree. Now that Lin Dan is included I've also argued for something similar to 'preferential higher seeding' ( as proposed in the article above) in order to be fair to all the other seeds. On another note, seriously, if Lin Dan hadn't taken the 6-8 months break, continue to be WR2 and still winning tournaments, would you be any happier and consider him less of a threat in the coming WC ?! So what's the real problem? It seems that some people just want Lin Dan out of the way so that their idols stand a better chance of winning it; apparently, that's the crux of the matter for them. I rest my case.
As the World Championship Title itself suggests, all the best players in the world should be contesting for it, no contender should be left out due to a technicality.
well, let's face it. Even if you dislike LD, you have to admit you want to see him play against LCW in WC2013, preferably in the Final.
Maybe yes for many people, but not for me. I think they both are getting past their prime. If both still make it to the final, I don't think it will be as good as 2011 WC or 2012 Olympic. I want to see new kings in men singles but unfortunately this year, there is nobody yet that really is there. Not Chen Long. BTW, my highest preference to watch is still Men doubles, have not changed.
It should be well-known that life is not fair. In the context of badminton, a top 4 player can't play in the Olympics and a top 8 player can't play in the World Championship. That's unfair. That's life. One person's fairness is another person's unfairness, and vice versa. Faireness is fable. All the fury with the LD's wildcard is not because of the wildcard which is a customary practice in sports. LCW would certainly have received a wildcard if he was in a similar situation. The root of the so called unfairness was that LCW plays in the same era as LD. LCW would probably have won some big titles (OG, WC, AG) if not for the presence of LD. To some, that's unfair. So it is fair to exclude LD such that LCW can win a big title. Others may say that a title won this way is tainted. But really, years from now, people will only remember who won but not how it was won. It is really crual and unfair for BWF to deny CBA's request for a wildcard in the first place to bring up the hope of LCW and his fans, and then smash that dream into pieces by offering LD a wildcard after all. The roller coaster ride probably did more damage than the wildcard itself. Given LD's current situation, he is but just a limited threat. Now that LCW attacked LD personally, it may have motivated LD to become a real threat.
BWF is entitled to give anyone for Wildcard, as per regulation. In soccer, Liverpool was granted for European Championship League 2006 as heroic-dramatic title holder of 2005, although England had already 4 slots. But Liverpool was forced to enter qualification. Almost nobody against the idea. Different case with Lin Dan, he actually "disappointed" BWF and fans by being away from tournament for not convincing/valid reason. Added also with so many WO he had. This wild card formally confirmed that the legend seemed bigger than the organization. Lin Dan seemed more important than BWF tournaments. Tournaments need Lin Dan more rather than he need the tournaments. That's what fans might feel as implication. So, I can only say that it is a legal call by BWF, but not popular one for fans who preferred badminton in more colors of participation. And who loves underdog But hey, it is also yet another reminder for other nation to step up faster. Also my few cents
yep, curious with that too. so far, still LCW the solitary player to protest. would be interesting to see if another players / country association have the same complaints. Also, if more and more players / country association objected with this 'bad' decision from BWF and gave them hard protest, would BWF canceled their award? I think that till the end BWF still doesn't want to award the wild card. It's BWF COM's decision after their closed meeting, no?
there are some interesting discussions here. one is the legality of it all. and i think it is pretty much established that granting a wildcard to anyone is at BWF's discretion and is certainly legal for BWF CON (according to their own rules) to award it to LD. next is the motivation. i see 2 takes on it. BWF doing it to please their sponsor Li-Ning. this is entirely possible, and usually something like this would cause a u-turn in BWF's stance towards a wildcard for LD. if something like this were to happen, it would've been the work of LYB and Li-Ning and from reaction from LD before, he wasn't expecting it. BWF doing it for the good of badminton. as pcl99 stated, another final or just any matchup between LCW and LD will be really appreciated by the fans. we are heading towards the last couple of years at most of these two's careers and such a match will be more and more rare. Another more long term view would be to lengthen the career or these 2 legends. For badminton as a whole, nothing will be worse than not having LCW and LD playing anymore. and the only thing that kept these 2 in the courts are basically each other. LD keep denying LCW of the grand titles so LCW keep going at it. if LCW keep trying for the WC/Olympics LD will be required to stick around to keep him at bay. i would not be surprised that LCW will retire once he obtain his goal of winning the first ever WC for Malaysia. and the LD will do so soon afterwards. by granting a wildcard to LD can potentially postpone the inevitable. do we think BWF posses such vision? i doubt it, but it is at least good for discussion here.
the wild card system is to allow players that didnt qualify in normal play in any sport to partcipate. it is supposed to be unfair or whatever term people want to use in the first place. so i dont get why lee chong wei or some fans complained about the decision by bwf. it is legal. it is not the first time this happened. all the fuss over lin dan. would people react the same way if it wasnt lin dan who got the wild card? my guess is no.
to continue kwun's discussion.... I seriously doubt if LCW's motivation is at the level it used to be say, 2012. Daddy-hood changes some things in life, like it or not. It's also pretty clear LD's motivation is also patchy, and sometimes absent. If they raise themselves to their 2011-2012 levels it will only be to somehow prove a point to the nay-sayers. And then, there is Chen Long, and if he can get his head out of where it doesn't belong, there is WZM. They need the psychological space to establish their own style and substance, and that time is now. And there are also a few other dangerous floaters. The playing field is not all about LD/LCW anymore. And it shouldn't be. And for BWF to trot out the silly idea about "for the good of the game" it just won't wash. "For the good of the game" would be to establish -and enforce- sound systems and procedures to encourage and promote players with potential to maximize their potential. To foster better and stronger competition. BWF giving LD the wildcard here is just a cop-out from the really hard decisions. Yes, it gives us another chance to see the legends at work, and that is great. But if LD/LCW were to play a series of 5 matches over a month in different cities in Asia and Europe accompanied by a select few other great players, I'm sure it would do much more for the game than this shabby mess they have created IMO. I really think there is a lot of mutual back-scratching that's been happening recently between some sponsors/manufacturers and related parties because of promises/investments made at regional levels, and the people at BWF have been suckered into a situation that they're clearly out of their depth with. A new and more professional management cannot come fast enough to BWF, as far as I'm concerned. But then, we really don't know the extent of the legacy they will have to deal with. Still, it can't get worse than the past couple of years.
Can anyone tell which player is out of luck because LD is being award the wild card. If known, what is the reaction of this player?
BWF is doing a favour to LCW by giving LD wild card Everyone knows this may be the last year of WC for LCW, everyone knows LD was lack of competition for the past 8 months, so giving a wild card to LD is in fact a conspiracy from BWF to do LCW a favour so that: 1. LCW could win his 1st ever WC with LD's participation; 2. LCW win a WC in China; 3. LCW win a WC with max. number of Chinese MS players. This is the biggest present BWF want to give LCW before his potential retirement in near future, making his win more meaningful to him, and to his fans, who could chant this win forever. therefore mark my word, LCW is going to win WC13.
