Looks like 720p version of MS final is up on Badmintalk [720p] HD Final BWF World Superseries Final 2014 …: http://youtu.be/mDqI-FsnmzI
We do have most of it on TV, court 1, for paid subscribers. In Singapore I subscribe to StarHub. But many who did not have access relied on live streaming which seems to be wanting. Apparently the usual, perhaps the more reliable source from BWF is not available, judging from comments in this forum.
Good that the oil rich Middle East countries are giving back by hosting international sports events. But they will benefit too in international exposure and recognition with the TV coverage that is beamed to millions of homes and on internet But it would be wrong that they are the ones doing it because they have the money. This is the first time that Dubai is hosting BWF SS badminton. Many other countries, especially the badminton powerhouses, have done so for many years even long before the GPs and SS and in other popular international events too. And they have invested in sports infrastructure and facilities long ago and are still investing. So Dubai is relatively new but is now very active to seize opportunities. I think the main aim of BWF is to popularize badminton to the 'local citizens' and those who can represent the country. Foreigners who went to watch at the stadium are welcome of course but to me they are not the main target. The majority Indian population in Dubai I presume are migrant workers, judging from the information from Wiki. I don't know whether they have been accorded permanent residence as suggested. It will unrealistic that Dubai will grant PR so easily since its own population is so small and its laws are rather strict. Their race, religion and culture are so different from the Indians and certainly they do not want the huge Indian population to dominate them. And India has its own badminton ambitions and is developing the game in the right direction and does not need Dubai's assistance, even in the current form of hosting the SSF to generate interest for its migrant workers especially. India contributes its share of hosting international badminton events. Dubai'si real interest in badminton will begin when it starts to promote the game to the schools and its own citizens. Hopefully it will align its sporting culture to international norms. And hopefully in the not too distant future we can see players from Dubai competing at the world stage.
Popularizing Badminton and Getting More Viewership. All Badminton lovers and fans want to see Badminton to be as popular as Tennis, Football and Cricket. What it means is; there has to be lot of Badminton content on TV, Live Telecast of Tournaments and solid viewership, which in turn will bring in more sponsors, more endorsements and more money in the game. There is lot of chicken and egg syndrome here. To bring in sponsors and money, badminton needs to be very popular and need to acquire huge TV audience. Situation in India now is; due to less viewership as compared to cricket, tennis and football, there is less TV space for badminton, resulting in less sponsors and less money in badminton. Money is also needed to bring in more kids and juniors in this game. They are real foundation for growing badminton community and fans. But this badminton development at grass-root level needs lot of monetary investment. Government in India will not do it, their priorities are different. Unfortunately, private sector is obviously more focused on cricket, tennis and football, because it offers immediate commercial returns.
Sir, what do you wanna say?. Is it all about what is the indian population in dubai and whether dubai give PR status to indians or not ? . THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BADMINTON OR ANYTHING related to that. Coming to the point, Dubai has already started to show its interest. Shuttle time dubai programme has been launched in dubai to promote badminton.. some of the stars has been called for the launch programme. Sindhu, Kenichi Tago etc were called for the launching programme. What do you mean by "india does not need india's assistance"... ? ? Do you have any idea of what you wanna say..?. Dubai is taking steps to promote badminton to all of tbem who settled over there for their LIVING. Is there any problem for you regarding what dubai has been doing for the welfare of tbe badminton to promote to whoever settled there in dubai regardless of their nationality ?
And 720p MD final is up on Badmintalk Final - 2014 BWF Destinations Dubai - Lee Y. D./Y…: http://youtu.be/aeHsK_n7qO0
@Loh I don't see any connection with badminton in Dubai and the PR status. Why should there be a differential of migrant workers to local people? Badminton is there for all persons. Your perspective and logic is mystifying. BWF may want to popularise badminton is certain countries. However, this is not dependent on the citizenship nor country of origin. A person is interested in badminton, no matter what citizenship that person holds or where they work.
Regardless of a short and shallow history of badminton in the area, I cannot see too much wrong with Dubai hosting the SS final for the next few years. It is a showcase and a payday at the end of the year. Why not do it where there is willing dollars? We say we want badminton popularized and that stable funding is a must. Why decline an eager patron? Whatever drawbacks there were to this years event, it will be the same folks next year working to improve on it. Having Dubai take on badminton is like having a long-lost uncle come back to town saying he wants to get re-acquainted with the family ... and he's going to start by buying everyone a new car. Sure, he's still a bit of a stranger, but you're gonna take the car -- and you'll get to know each better in time.
@ Cheung I did not say that Dubai's contribution is not welcome. I acknowledge that BWF will perhaps not get a better offer and they have a restricted time frame to wrap up the entire deal. And I agree that money plays a great part in Dubai success in securing the SSF deal. Neither did I say that migrant workers are not welcome to watch the matches. The greater the attendance the better for the organizers and the game in general. When I first watched the matches on TV, my first impression was the lack of attendance and I wondered why. If BWF wants to popularize the game in Dubai, I would expect more of the locals to attend. So I want to find out the reason and finally got it on Wikipedia which revealed that Dubai's locals comprise less than 20% of the population, the majority of which are from the Indian sub-continent. My opinion is that this is not satisfactory if BWF really wants to popularize the game in Dubai so that Dubai can be represented on the international badminton map one day, meaning they need to develop their own players. The issue of PR status is only a side remark on vkokamthankar's comments in #277. So my contention is that if Dubai is really interested in making a mark in the badminton world, it is best done by showcasing its on players on the world stage.
@Loh The aim is showcase badminton and popularise the game. Why should the regional differences of the population make any difference in the overall popularity of the game? Why should singapore host a F1 Grand Prix in a place where most people can't afford a car? To produce a Grand Prix driver? Is that the aim of the organisers and the Singapore tourist board and the Singapore Government? Of course not - it's done because of money and putting forward the Singapore name as a Singapore brand. The primary aim of these big tournaments for BWF is to increase popularity of the game worldwide I.e. advertising - it has never been implied that the aim was to produce world class players straight off the start in a resident population. You need to get more people interested in the playing regardless of their 'resident' status in any country. And for the 'lack of interest' at the beginning of the tournamnet, that has already been explained that people have to work!
@ Cheung The two events are quite different, SSF and F1. F1 is more of a commercial or business undertaking that involves massive dollar investments with a different objective, unlike badminton which BWF hopes to 'globalize' by bringing the game to the masses of as many countries, so that such countries would one day be represented at the world stage, hopefully finally at the Olympics. Indeed how many can afford and are qualified to drive a F1 racing car or even to attend an F1 event? Whereas playing badminton is much, much more affordable, even to school kids playing in the open. If BWF is really interested in promoting the 'active' participation of the game, IMHO Dubai does not seem to be the right venue for such a prestigious SSF event. It has only a small percentage of its locals vis-a-vis the larger population. and what of the daily attendance? Imagine having it hosted in a badminton loving country like Indonesia, China or Denmark, we would have a much better response as fans know the game. Not that these countries and more BWF members have not been doing their part throughout this year, although they have not been given this special SSF event. Even Malaysia just hosted the handsomest US$1 million Axiata Cup team event which equals the prize money Dubai offered. I concede it must be the 'money' factor that must have swayed BWF's decision in favour of Dubai. And Dubai will host the SSF for 3 years? Unfortunately, we do not know how Dubai is awarded the right to host the SSF. Apart from money, what are the other requirements? Was promoting the game to the locals one of them? Were there other bidders for the event? Such details are not transparent to badminton fans like us. It is easy to just promote badminton on TV to a worldwide audience but it is much harder to promote to the game to locals and get them to playing it. So what did BWF require of Dubai? No need to promote the game to its own people?
Really a wonderful and marvellous step taken by BWF to promote badminton. So many indians are doing businesses and their families are living there for many years. They need some entertainment . As somebody mentioned here before, if 53% are indians in dubai, what's wrong in motivating them to take this sport from school level?. What do you mean by 'local'..?. What would these locals can do without remaining people who are responsible for their country's economy. Definitely, with 53% of indians, dubai is in a position to entertain these people along with promoting certain sports which have huge attraction. Already, cricket competitions are held in dubai to entertain indians staying there.. Though it's impossible for them to create a separate team for cricket, they can entertain the majority of audience settled over there. Like singapore, which imports players from other countries, dubai may think in different way.. They can promote badminton to people living over there(india, phillipines, indonesia) and can form a seperate team for their country instead of 'importing'. What's wrong..?. No need for the PR status or anything.. if a person likes this sport.. Learn it and play.. Not even needed to represent the country you are living in.. But for self satisfaction and to keep the body fit. That's why we are here.. Am I right?. Promote this sport all over the world and make them to familiarise this game and let them play it . This should be the motto. Excellent stepping stone by BWF. There are certain academies already got started . I read somewhere the name "Dubai schools badminton academy", to promote this to school students. Shuttle time dubai has been started to encourage people to play badminton (regardless of ages).
@Loh. Your thinking is too limited. Mass global appeal does not mean mass participation as per F1. Does increased in popularity in objective terms mean more players? Can people enjoy watching a sport yet not participate? Should BWF turn down a partnership of a host country if that country only has a small population? If you believe so, then Singapore and Denmark should be struck off. In fact, Singapore has so many non-Singaporeans living there, by your logic, since so few indigenous Singaporeans represent Singapore internationally, BWF should not host a Superseries event there Even if Singapore has the money to host the event, what use is it? Singapore still has to depend on incentive schemes to attract overseas players. Even a player such as Colleen Goh pursues a PhD. I don't see any difference between F1 and badminton. Both are trying to increase the popularity and branding of their sports. Dubai is gradually increasing its profile as a tourist and leisure centre. Increasing the numbers of events is their strategy and BWF gets to showcase badminton in a new area of the world. Win-win I say. Think outside the box. If you think only of benefits to the indigenous population, you definitely limit your perpective. I understand the logic as in Singapore, there is very much of a 'me as a Singaporean' and 'them as a foreigner' attitude and dichotomy. Also racial profiling is very evident in the local press in schooling.
@ Cheung Indeed Singapore is relatively small but has for a relatively long time engaged herself actively in as many sports and international events as possible, including hosting them, despite her small size and limited resources. For badminton, Singapore has hosted the Thomas Cup way back in 1952 (2nd), 1955 (3rd) and 1958 (4th). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Badminton_Hall) The forthcoming year, we will host the SEA Games, with badminton as one of the more popular sports and many of us are getting excited and are looking forward to it. This has coincided with the completion of our new National Stadium at Kallang. Sure F1 will bring in the tourist dollars and is largely a business proposition, not without risks. Some countries have decided not to continue with the event as it is very costly and it took Singapore a very long hard look before renewing F1 this year. In that sense it is vastly different from promoting badminton as an on-going sport to engage the locals particularly. Singapore's history, beginning with British colonial times after WW2, is in many ways different from many other countries. We have inherited three main races, the Chinese, Malays and Indians who were told in August 1965, that being forced out of the merger with Malaysia that lasted barely 2 years, as Singaporeans, they have no more hinterland to rely on and will have to learn to be self-dependent. With practically no natural resources, it was a very difficult period for the government as it attempts to build a viable economy and to find jobs for every family in order to pay for food, clothing and shelter. Furthermore it has to build a harmonious society out of disparate interest groups, whose educational level was relatively low to be able to take on higher-paid jobs. Racial profiling, with relevant data as an aid, was adopted to help the various communities to improve themselves, especially in the schools, not for racial discrimination purposes. Happily, the Singapore of today is vastly different from that of yesteryear. Not in culture, language and religion as these were considered very important for the various groups to retain their roots, but to learn English as a first language to plug into the Western world and for us to earn a higher income. So education is rather important for our society to succeed. So much so that sports were given a back-seat. Education first, other activities, including sports, second. And it has continued till today. That was why our SBA has to devise measures to continue to engage the badminton world. When our own talents and their parents paid more emphasis on schooling that resulted in less kids wanting to turn professional, the SBA thought of the foreign-talent scheme to fill the gap until such time that mindsets changed. But so far, I think this scheme has not been very successful given the time and resources that we have invested in it. No wonder that our own badminton talent, Colleen Goh is pursuing her PhD, because she thinks she could do better than being a badminton professional. Of course, if she is like LD, she has to change her mind. My thinking is too limited? Maybe, but I always think that BWF's policy of globalization is to spread the game to all corners of the earth and develop it as a game to play rather than merely to watch. Sure both actively can derive enjoyment. In a badminton-loving country where the audience is rather knowledgeable, watching the game is vastly different from one that is starting to learn about it, like Dubai. Just watch the infectious response and reaction from the audiences in Indonesia, Denmark, Malaysia or China. For such a crème de la crème SSF, to me Dubai is a poor choice, if not for the money.
For SS Finals to become successful in the long run, it needs to award the same world ranking points as World Championship. Right now, it's just another SSP.
Let's put it this way, it's the money. And this, brings us back to a full circle to my original answer to your original question of Dubai.
