First of all @wannaplay I don't like people who put down Asian nations. I respect all countries and a lot of opinions. If you read the Danish journalist's article in the right context, he believes that the BWF is primarily to blame for this situation and not the nations.
@samkool I do believe that the journalist knows the system very well and has also understood it. He is a well known professional badminton journalist who works for Danish pay TV. He also writes that BWF has to become more professional in order not to lose touch with other sports. (Sponsors, children who don't watch 2020 Badminton on TV and play a different sport). This is the same opinion that Anders Antonsen takes in his statement.
I can fix this with a simple example. This year's Tour de France featured 22 teams, 19 qualified teams according to world rankings and three wildcards for teams from France. No team said it was too dangerous to ride the tour, every team started, although France has more than 10,000 new Covid cases every day. After three weeks of the Tour de France, not one of the 178 riders tested positive for Corona.
@sen He only writes that he is sure that most of the players would have played in Denmark if there had been points for the race to Tokyo. I am also sure that he is right when he says that almost all players would then have played independently of Corona. And that is not irrelevant, of course it is nicer when the players play for the honor and a few thousand USD. But the fact is that for most players, participating in the Olympic Games is the highlight of their careers.
This can also be seen in the fact that in years of Olympic qualification the fields of participants in tournaments are more occupied. Example:
The German Open is a medium-sized tournament (300, in previous years Grand Prix Gold) Here I have the seeded players (men's singles number 16, all other disciplines number 8) at the tournaments in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and their respective positions at the time in the world rankings.
2015 MS (16) Wong Wing Wi Vincent (WR 29)
2015 WS (8) Miriatsu Mitani (WR 16)
2015 MD (8) Fuchs / Schöttler) (WR 16)
2015 WD (8) Kah Mun Hoo / Khe Wei Woon (WR 17)
2015 XD (8) Hei Reginald / Hoi Wah (WR17)
2016 MS (16) Sho Sosaki (WR 20)
2016 WS (8) Sayaka Sato (WR 13)
2016 MD (8) Ivanov / Sozonov (WR 13)
2016 WD (8) Naoka Fukuman / Kurumi Yonao (WR 10)
2016 XD (8) Arends / Piek (WR 14)
2017 MS (16) Anders Antonsen (WR 33)
2017 WS (8) Ayumi Mine (WR 21)
2017 MD (8) Isara / Phuangphuapet (WR 17)
2017 WD (8) Tanaka / Yonamota (WR 16)
2017 XD (8) Zhang Nan / Li Yinhui (WR 17)
It becomes very clear that the 2016 Olympic qualification means that the players take more exertion and play tournaments in order to qualify for the Olympics or to achieve a better seeding position.
In these difficult times, of course, each person has their own view of things. Let's stand together and bring badminton forward. The state of having no tournaments at the highest level is no longer sustainable. Every sport is played again worldwide under special hygienic conditions, only badminton is not. That kills badminton! Stay safe!
@samkool I do believe that the journalist knows the system very well and has also understood it. He is a well known professional badminton journalist who works for Danish pay TV. He also writes that BWF has to become more professional in order not to lose touch with other sports. (Sponsors, children who don't watch 2020 Badminton on TV and play a different sport). This is the same opinion that Anders Antonsen takes in his statement.
I can fix this with a simple example. This year's Tour de France featured 22 teams, 19 qualified teams according to world rankings and three wildcards for teams from France. No team said it was too dangerous to ride the tour, every team started, although France has more than 10,000 new Covid cases every day. After three weeks of the Tour de France, not one of the 178 riders tested positive for Corona.
@sen He only writes that he is sure that most of the players would have played in Denmark if there had been points for the race to Tokyo. I am also sure that he is right when he says that almost all players would then have played independently of Corona. And that is not irrelevant, of course it is nicer when the players play for the honor and a few thousand USD. But the fact is that for most players, participating in the Olympic Games is the highlight of their careers.
This can also be seen in the fact that in years of Olympic qualification the fields of participants in tournaments are more occupied. Example:
The German Open is a medium-sized tournament (300, in previous years Grand Prix Gold) Here I have the seeded players (men's singles number 16, all other disciplines number 8) at the tournaments in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and their respective positions at the time in the world rankings.
2015 MS (16) Wong Wing Wi Vincent (WR 29)
2015 WS (8) Miriatsu Mitani (WR 16)
2015 MD (8) Fuchs / Schöttler) (WR 16)
2015 WD (8) Kah Mun Hoo / Khe Wei Woon (WR 17)
2015 XD (8) Hei Reginald / Hoi Wah (WR17)
2016 MS (16) Sho Sosaki (WR 20)
2016 WS (8) Sayaka Sato (WR 13)
2016 MD (8) Ivanov / Sozonov (WR 13)
2016 WD (8) Naoka Fukuman / Kurumi Yonao (WR 10)
2016 XD (8) Arends / Piek (WR 14)
2017 MS (16) Anders Antonsen (WR 33)
2017 WS (8) Ayumi Mine (WR 21)
2017 MD (8) Isara / Phuangphuapet (WR 17)
2017 WD (8) Tanaka / Yonamota (WR 16)
2017 XD (8) Zhang Nan / Li Yinhui (WR 17)
It becomes very clear that the 2016 Olympic qualification means that the players take more exertion and play tournaments in order to qualify for the Olympics or to achieve a better seeding position.
In these difficult times, of course, each person has their own view of things. Let's stand together and bring badminton forward. The state of having no tournaments at the highest level is no longer sustainable. Every sport is played again worldwide under special hygienic conditions, only badminton is not. That kills badminton! Stay safe!