Does anyone know the rational behind the BWF giving byes to the seeded players? This is the world championships, shouldn't everyone start off on equal footing? Granted we need to seed the better players so avoid meeting each other early on but why allow them to play less matches? Doesn't seem fair. One reason I could imagine having a bye in tournaments would be if there were insufficient entries but this being possibly the second most prominent tournament on the badminton calendar I can see that being the case. Anyone?
I think there really aren't enough entries, since each country is limited to 4 players/teams per division.
in order to not have any byes, the total number of entries need to be a power of 2: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128. in reality, the total number of entries is determined by the player's world ranking and their country. the total number rarely comes to a nice power of 2. as a result, there are byes.
Even Grand Slams in tennis, all seeded players have to play from round of 128 up to potential 7 matches, qualifiers have to play extra rounds (qualfying rounds). A qualifier might need to play 10 matches in order to win the title.
There simply aren't enough players, especially with national quota. A 32-draw feels too small, hence a 64-draw with byes.
If that's the case then why not increase the national quota, or allow players from more minor badminton countries more opportunity to play. Extra 8 players shouldn't be too hard to find. As for comparison with tennis, yes a qualifier will have to play more matches to win the tournament compared to a player who qualifies directly for the main draw but that is different from having a bye. I can definately see how small tournaments might have difficulty finding the right number of players for a 32 or 64 player draw but a world championship? Anyway, I'm not saying any of you guys are wrong I just think that it could (and probably should) be done slightly differently.
Suggest you read the competition statue for the World Championships as well as the General Competition rules in the WBF web page on how the drawing of matches are done. As in all competition, the rules are there to ensure there are a fair representation from all members as well as a fair distribution of players at various ranking levels. WBF could easily say only the top 32/64 players in the World Ranking could join, but then many member associations may have been excluded from there or we will see one or two countries overly represented. The current way of allocating appear to be a better option. Of course, even given the quota, not all members may want to use up their quota fully due to other committment (e.g. Thailand chose to play in the University Game instead) or players injury or even financial difficulties. Sometimes the organisation committee may not know the short fall until late and it would also be chaotic if other associations/players are throw in at the 11th hours. (The 2 maximum wildcards may help as in this WC, 1 of the 2 wildcard is used). Even in the Super Series where there is a qualifying round, we also see many players/teams withdrew or forfited, it just that there are enough players around to make it to the Round 1 proper. In a perfect scenario, all slots would have been filled up as all slots are actually allocated according to the competition rule. Last minutes or unforseen changes do occur and I think that is where the byes come into place.
I believe there's another factor - the national badminton associations of some of the qualified low-ranked players just don't bother to sponsor the players to the event because they are perceived as no-hopers. There must still be such players even at final Phase 3 of the invitations (2 months before the event held) - and the WC wouldn't go for further rounds of invitations even if there are still vacancies by Phase 3.
Even with the byes...there are still a couple of withdrawals in the first 2 days involving Brazilians and Bulgarians.
The byes are caused in large part by the structure of the WC entry procedure - 3 rounds of invitations sent out - you can only send out as many as there are places, so if anybody turns you down at 3rd round of invite, you automatically create byes. Also there does not seem to be short notice reserve list openly created. Looking at SS and GP events where even with 64 entries in some events - you have qualification rounds. With the prestige of a WC, byes are really not a good showcase to the world. The entry procedure got to change and the country maximum perhaps also should be reconsidered
It is clearly because of the number of entries. In MS, there are 3 byes. In MD, 12 byes. In WS, 5 byes. In WD, 16 byes. In XD, 12 byes. That is a pretty wide range. I do have a question, however. I would expect the high rank players to get these byes. But not always the case. Sometime, unranked players get bye but ranked players do not. Why?
To minimise byes, BWF should have some wild cards for independents who qualify based on rankings or proven ability and need no clearance from the national BA.
I agree with the last post, byes stink and so do unexplained walkovers sounds harsh but true. Wild cards should be used to fill holes and a medical given for walkovers to show that the player is unable to play. Never give up and never wuss out!!
There are wild cards already stipulated in the competition rules. One is allocated to the host country (he can invite either his own player or other association player), and one is allocated to WBF, both are subject to the approval of the association concerned. In this context, BAM already used up their allocation as host country to give the wildcard to Roslin, otherwise by the rule Malaysia would have only 3 MS players eligible to the WC qualification. WBF also try to excercise their wildcard option by recommending another Malaysia player Sairul to the MS event, but this was turndown by BAM. Read this thread: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46332 In reality, any rule, no matter how well written, cannot cover all loopholes. In such invitation tournament, like WC, invitation is sent and is subject to acceptance. Even if it is accepted, the association can withdraw for whatever reasons. Bye is indeed unfortunate, but is there a foolproof plan to eliminate this completely? I dont know think so
Have to bye We are talking about World Championships, 64 entries with a few byes. Compared to Grand Slams in tennis, 128 entries without byes, plus qualifiers need to play qualification rounds in order to play in the main draw. It just shows that badminton is not so popular yet.
Ah, if the WC has a considerable sum of prize money then I'm sure that anyone want to pull out may think twice!
it's true the byes spoil the festive. IBF should have a backup players' list which can replace certain forfeited entries.
Maybe, it does show one thing: badminton players play badminton just for interest whereas tennis players goes for money. I know that it's unfair to compare badminton with tennis but that's the fact. Increasing prize money & quotas for each countries will definitely reduce the last minute withdrawals & attract more entries. But the impact is, again, CHN will probably occupy the top 10 spots.
