Maybe bwf could set a limit to ranking tournaments towards OG qualifiers. eg// you're top 12 tournament results are used. That way players wont feel like they have to go to more tournaments than they need to, which should cut back on injuries.
I completely agree with you!!!! Nobody asked the Chinese players to play in all tournaments... BWF have used the top 10 tournament results of each athlete.... So, for example, if Lin Dan is confident he can play in just 10 tournaments and got enough points to enter the Olympics, so be it. Nobody is stopping him......
if the BWF committee is majority asian and they try vote for more asian events, the this shows an inward looking attitude that will mean these other venues will never get a chance to host a big tournament. With respect to less tournaments of course China want less. They will have a tighter grip on ranking and qualification manipulation. if there are more high ranking events they have less chance to do this unless they make the players play more tournaments. China prefer to play the tournaments they have to, go back and train for big events and just win them.
For those who are unable to score as many points or below their target to attain a certain goal, they are forced to play in more than 10 tournaments which may take a toll on their physical, like getting injured. CJ is one example and he still had to play to gain more Olympic ranking points to get ahead of PG if he wants to be the third player after LD and CL to be the last CHN MS representative. CJ has got injured before and the worse thing to happen is for him to sustain another injury after he has qualified for LOG.
I don't agree that smaller countries should not be able to hold a SS event. Look at F1 - Monaco grand prix sticks out. BTW Krisna, 5 PSS and 10 SS is absolutely fine. It also give more permutations when world ranking results are published. Quite possibly, that movement in rankings will give us fans more to talk about.
you're right. the winners of Korea PSS gets 11,000 points and prize money is $1 million. The winner of a Malaysia Open GPG gets 7,000 points and the prize money is only $120,000. Something is very wrong with the WR points system.
If you follow the tennis (ATP) model (ATP1000, ATP 500, etc), the badminton version should be: PSS = 10,000 SS = 5,000 GPG = 2,500 GP = 1,250 Int = 625 In this scenario, there is enough of a point spread to justify each level.
Cheung said it correctly: China may choose a different training regiment if they want to prevent more injuries and/or play in just 10-11 tournaments. Nobody prevents them from doing those things... The 'best 10 tournament results' have been in place for a long time. Go to the BWF website to find out. http://www.bwfbadminton.org/page.aspx?id=14915 Go to section 1B, appendix 6. 5. Ranking 5.1 World Ranking - 10 or fewer World Ranking tournaments in the last 52 weeks If a player or pair has competed in the same event at 10 or fewer World Ranking tournaments then the ranking is worked out by adding the points won at the tournaments. 5.2 World Ranking - 11 or more World Ranking tournaments in the last 52 weeks If a player or pair has competed in the same event at 11 or more World Ranking tournaments, only the 10 highest points scored in the tournaments during the previous 52 week period count towards their ranking. Hehehe, F1's Monaco GP is effectively France's tournament, like badminton's Bittburger Luxemburg Open Gold GP is effectively another one of Germany's tournament. And France + Germany are relatively big countries with 60-80 million people. Look, F1 has 20 tournaments spread quite nicely all over the globe: 7 in Western Europe (Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Monaco etc.) 3 in South and Southeast Asia (India, Malaysia, Singapore) 3 in East Asia (China, Japan, Korea) 2 in Middle East/Africa (UAE, Bahrain) 2 in North America (Canada, USA) 1 in South America (Brazil) 1 in Oceania (Australia) 1 in Central-East Europe (Hungary) Look how they have covered the BIG areas [and population] of the Earth: China, India, USA, Brazil, Australia, Western Europe, blabla... Our badminton PSS and SS only covered: 3 in Western Europe (England, France, Denmark) 4 in South and Southeast Asia (India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore) 5 in East Asia (China Open, Japan, Korea, China Masters, Hong Kong) The ones I underline are Premier SS... The ones I color in red are Gold GP material [Hong Kong and Singapore] and Invitational material [China Masters like Copenhagen Masters]; heck, give China another Gold GP or something, not another SS... Ideally: 3 in Western Europe (England, France, Denmark) 3 in South and Southeast Asia (India, Indonesia, Malaysia) 3 in East Asia (Japan, China, Korea) 2 in Middle East/Africa (Nigeria, South Africa) 1 in North America (USA) 1 in South America (Brazil) 1 in Oceania (Australia) 1 in Central-East Europe (Russia) There 5 PSS and 10 SS One day if I have the time to run for the BWF presidency and I will push this.... Oh, and I believe, in 20 years, the European balance of power will shift to Russia from Denmark. We shall see......
One step at a time... I'm experimenting with various ways to improve badminton's popularity and stature in my region and nationally [in Indonesia]. The cycle goes like this: more popularity for badminton due to brand associations with the pop culture, marketing+PR activation campaigns, noticeable star power of the players, at least 'some' winning results, and engaging conversation with fans [mainly in digital form] lead to... more spectators [live events and televised TV/internet broadcasts], more fan involvements, more recreational players lead to... more motivated sponsors lead to... more money for players lead to... more parents all over the world supporting their kids in choosing badminton as a career lead to... more talented athletes from previously non-traditional badminton powerhouses [one day we shall see well-liked badminton stars from Brazil, Russia, and the US] lead to... more popularity for badminton... the cycle goes back to number 1 but the sport will be healthier every time the cycle is completed. In case some of the readers are wondering..... of course I know badminton infrastructure, governments support, balanced competition, coaching standardization and upgrades, healthy club proliferation [in the absence of massive government support like in China], establishment of more centers of excellence [can be government-funded or privately funded], etc. etc. will ALL add to the cycle I wrote above... and the mismanagement of some things [like balanced competition] will stifle the sports growth. I just think the red cycle I wrote above are the way forward for badminton. Managing the popularity of badminton is the engine starter for the rest of the cycle to flow.
Like Krisna mentioned in the above post, INA has been the pioneer in trying to make badminton more attractive to spectators. Expect lots of fireworks for the INA SSP this year!
Promoting badminton around the world is no easy task. someone here mentioned about getting Lady Gaga to play badminton. i think that's a cool idea. i think having a group of idols or Hollywood stars play badminton would be very cool. Making a movie about badminton may also work.
badminton is not that popular in China It may gained some popularity in recent years because of Lin Dan and other Chinese badminton stars and recent economic success. but it's still far less popular than basketball, pingpong, soccer and do not forget tennis may surpass badminton because of Li Na's success. Popularity of badminton in China may be more important than in other countries because of the size and economy of China.
So for point no.1, more SS tournaments are advantageous as we would like a greater spread of winners from different countries.
This has been done in INA, as mentioned by Krisna. We have the movie "King", which was inspired by the story of Liem Swie King. There have also been pop artists appearance in the INA SSP and more will be done this year. Not to mention, not only Djarum (as the title sponsor) will be heavily involved...I heard there will also be even more brands involvement.
Ideally as I've said before, professional players, especially those without much sponsor support, should be compensated at least for basic expenses when they compete overseas, even when they lost in R1. An additional pocket allowance will provide further incentive. Attractive prize monies will motivate them to train harder and perform better. So in the end, everybody benefits. Professional players can make an honest living and fans get to watch world class performances. Sponsors are happy with good attendances and worldwide media coverage and more sports enthusiasts will be drawn to the game. It will snowball into a multiplier effect.
Hey, I like that idea! Lady Gaga playing badminton. Awesome! In Indonesia, every year at least 4-6 famous Indonesian stars play badminton in the warming up events leading to INA Open. This year, we expect 10 to 20 Indonesian pop-stars appearing in the INA Open to beef up attention of the show. The other countries should do the same. If All England involve their top British stars and Korea Open bring in their top Korean star, it will be awesome... but they didn't do enough this year [even after Indonesia showed the way last year]... In the 2008 Olympics, Bill Gates was caught on camera watching Olympic badminton. That received a lot of huraaahh... In Russia, badminton got a lot of attention because President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin played badminton on TV. You can youtube it... just type Medvedev Putin badminton... I heard that too..... In the USA, Justin Bieber played in the NBA all-star... that was cool for basketball... Precisely, loh... Hey, will you visit Jakarta again this year during INA Open?
"Attention" yeah but not the positive kind (from the public anyway). I don't know if "Bill Gates watches and likes badminton" sends out the "right" image either (nor freakazoid Gaga -> Badminton: all the geeks and freaks do it ). But if it bring Silicon Valley $$$ along with it it's a different matter .
The bottom line how to make badminton is an career...Also regarding no prize money in 1st round, I heard while ago that manyntop players prefer more money...that's why no money for 1st round loser...