My thoughts are badminton needs to create an INTERNATIONAL superstar, a household name that everyone around the world can relate his name to badminton like Boris Becker to Tennis, Maradona to Soccer, Lance Armstrong to cycling...etc. In badminton, there are a pool of top players but seldom one can dominant in all major tournaments. Even there is one, the lifespan is short, maybe 2-3 years before fading away. If we have Lin Dan who consistently wins all major tournaments that everyone sees him as the god of badminton, then it becomes a brand and everyone can relate him to this sports. Today, I see Lin Dan is still a local star (for china). For example, for those coming from Denmark, Peter Gade is the star, not Lin Dan. We need to make one who can cross the boundaries and well known to anyone anywhere.
Given the life span on man's single player, it would be hard to bring up a super star that is on the top spot LONG enough to be known as the ultimate
I absolutely agree, because badminton nowadays weights so heavily on speed and the skill level among top players are so close and because of that players are so vulnerable to outside factors. Just one bad call can affect the mood of a player and take him down.....like a 100m sprinter, no room for mistake or out of focus. This sport is also very age dependent......like any other sports I guess. Maybe badminton should be part of track and field events in Olympics.
YA, Lance Armstrong is great but watching him win just wont get me on a bike nor sit in front of the TV for few hours wacthing a lot of people riding a bike on paved roads. However, I do agree that badminton needs a major super star to drive more interest around the world but especially get the interest of news media such as TV stations, radio, magazines. At some point I feel that badminton needs to do SOMETHING LOL. For starters, the image of badminton needs to be seriously revised. In USA the image of badminton is either an activity on grass for the elite class or its a back yard / picnic sport with the later being the popular opinion. I think to change that image it is extremely difficult unless larger events with much large prize money can be created on a regular basis and not once every 4 years like the Olympics. Without it, there simply wont be any media coverage.
Maybe badminton needs corporate teams like in basketball and soccer. You can have Lin Dan (CHN), Pi Hongyan (FRN), Tony Gunawan/Howard Bach (USA), etc. etc. on one team (Yonex) versus another team (RSL, Carlton, Wilson, Prince, etc.) composed of similarly internationally diverse superstars. That way you bridge the gap among countries as somebody here said and take away the nationalistic fervor that is attached to a badminton game as opposed to say tennis or golf. You never see small American flags flying in a tennis match. Even on TV, the country of a player is always prominently displayed in the score. The players can also go on tour in different countries, hold badminton clinics, etc. etc. I don't think the promotion of badminton should rest on Yonex's shoulders alone. I think that is the responsibility of the International Badminton Federation. Maybe they should hold a meeting with the top manufacturers and top countries (China, England, USA, Denmark, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, etc.) and discuss on ways to promote badminton. Instead of changing the scoring system to a less effective one yet again. (Haha. Just had to get that in.) Just my 2 cents.
1. Pi HY is under contract with Babolat, so she can't play for Yonex yet. 2. It's going to be extremely hard to organize international matches, due to everyone's schedule and travel concern. Even powerful leagues like NBA is having a hard time even to pass the proposal to recruit new teams from over the sea.
I didn't know that but I was just suggesting that sponsor companies can get players from different countries. Well, it's just an idea.
got to solely agree on it. we all dream of the momentous day that badminton will become one of the most top classed sports in the world.
Sorry not aggree with your dream. I think the sports at best keep same base, worst dying. Badminton dominated (80%+)by one single company.why shall the dominate company invest and hoping to get to 85%?, because he already own it. Please check at the internation badminton playing area. very few advsertise , low wining mony (come on $5,000.00 USD on Four star games) , not to mension a good badminton racquets cost the same as a a good tennis. racquets.
market wise yonex needs to jumpstart demand, before they can do anything else to expand. yeah advertising and whatnot but thats too costly and unnefective.
I agree..Badminton can be very tiring and requires a lot of things such as footwork/stamina/stragties/etc. Hehe I've gotten so out of shape these days. I stopped abs excercises--mehh I feel fat even though I'm not. Stopped running around the school on my own time.-HORRIBLE running now. Weight lifting-I don't think I could even do a whole stack of weights for the squating machine either. But I used to. GET OUT AND PLAY BADMINTON.--sorry this is a little of topic.
Popularity..we need it fast... Interest is decreasing everywhere...it's very hard to find a player now... back then, it was very easy to do so... I really am sad to see Badminton is getting crushed by sports that is dominant by european or American such as basketball, soccer, etc. Face it we can't achieve anything doin basketball, soccer... If we do badminton, there's a possibility we won something... Time is ticking to lift Badminton popularity...otherwise... Im afraid there won't be anymore interest... Such an tragedy if that happened
The popularity of a sport is directly propotional to its television and newspaper coverage. Also, I've noticed that if a match/game is shown on television, newspapers attribute more space and importance to that particular match (A good example would be the recent Ranji Trophy). So, importance must be given to increasing television coverage. Television coverage will be increased if there is a higher viewership. 1. Badminton is advertised as 'the fastest racquet sport'. This must be emphasised during a game. For eg: The speed of each smash should be displayed on TV screens, along with the reaction time. 2. Maybe the position of the TV camera should be changed often. Rather than being directly overhead as in Tennis, if they are placed, at the same height, at the corners of the court, I think it would be better. The viewer would then be able to see the players jumping, which is barely visible with overhead cameras. Maybe the overhead camera can be used for a few points, followed by this one... 3. Tournament Organisers should advertise more. There is a good base for badminton viewers, people who have played the sport as youngsters are aplenty. 4. This will only be applicable during the very few badminton matches that are shown on TV... Write to your local sports channel demanding more badminton! Bring your family members and friends to see a match along with you. Essentially, what we need to do is project badminton as a very very tough sport to play...
Missed out a few points placing the camera at the position I described would also enable viewers to see the players stretching to the net, thus emphasising their flexibility and agility. we also need better commentators who can infuse excitement into a game...
A sport can't be popular unless the kids are exposed to it too. More schools should form badminton teams, or more community clubs set up badminton sessions too. Also, in PE, teach them the real rules of the game. My old school used to set up the net like a volleyball net to play badminton >=o. It's sad that people think badminton is a easy sport. Everyone I talk to say it's easy, but that is only because it is easy to learn how to play at first, they do not know about deception, and tactics of the game and such, only hitting it back and forth very high and hardly going anywhere. Also people at my school Boo at our team >_>.
Straight out, badminton has little to no advertisements on television screens. The following few lines is a experimental, fake example of how an effective badminton commercial should look like. It should start off with a short clip of the White & Nerdy video; the part where you see those nerds playing badminton in slow motion in their backyard. Afterwards in big letters put "THINK AGAIN!". And then you will see the highest quality short clip of some really famous badminton video/players like the Lin Dan & Lee Chong Wei Hong Kong Open game. It should also be a clip of the most intense rallies. Then the commercial should end off showing some Yonex equipment and some other things about badminton. Above all, it shouldn't be too corny.
so what is the situation with Nike or other big corporations now? are there doing anything for badminton at the moment?
I have to agree. In US it isn't that wild popular at all, like tennis. I attribute it mainly to need of an enclosed space to play. While you can play tennis outside even when it's windy, and there are bunch of open courts out there which are easy maintenance. I'm pretty pissed off about it because it is really hard to play sometimes because of all the circumstances, like lack off badminton clubs, equipment retailers and people willing to play acctually. People so damn lazy nowdays, they rather lay around and watch sports on TV instead of going out to play this wonderfull Fun game. I went to local sport store the other day to check something, while knowing they don't carry any good badminton rackets I still checked out that isle and was again dissapointed, while they had great selection of tennis and racketball rackets. Oh well...
I just want to put some of my thoughts out and get some feed back on this. Badminton is a participaing sport, not a spectator sport. we love badminton, we love to play badminton. However, if you go to a big tournment, it is hard to see what is going on. During earlier round, you often have 4 or 6 couts playing the same time in the same stadium. Which one do you watch? Your seat in 1 location, however, the match you want to watch might be on the other side. What do you do? Same as table tennis and other participating sports. Another problem is the speed vs playing area. You have tennis court that is 4 times bigger than badminon court. Yet, fastest serve is about 150 mile/hr. While badminton top smashing speed is about 280 mile/hr. You blink your eyes and the point is over. Same as for ping pong.
