HSBC never sponsor the Hong Kong Open nor the China Open before. But they are now sponsoring the whole BWF World Tour and the Finals!! i hope with the money coming from HSBC, BWF can deliver better events for all of us.
The prestigious part, I'm afraid I don't quite agree. Frankly, I fail to see how Guangzhou is less prestigious than Dubai, not only from the badminton point of view but in other areas as well, the economy, the history, culture, food, tourist attractions, overall potential for growth and development, its rich hinterland, etc.
Including BWF Major Events (World Championships, Sudirman Cup and Thomas & Uber Cup Finals). For a start, the World Tour Finals now offer a higher prize money, USD 1.5 mil as opposed to USD 1 mil previously.
I'm not sure as there's no mention of Total or even MetLife. I guess the two said sponsors will still be in but on a much smaller scale than before with HSBC taking the largest chunk of the sponsorship agreement with BWF.
As far as I know MetLife partnership is already done and dusted. But BWF extended their partnership with TOTAL for BWF Major Events until 2021 (signed during the bidding for BWF World Tour and some Major Events 2018-2019). I assume that we will still have TOTAL BWF Thomas and Uber Cups/Sudirman Cup (coz they are the 'title sponsor') but HSBC will also sponsor in some way. I mean how can BWF stop partnering with TOTAL so suddenly...
Except for those disappointed names, BWF have done a very good job How can you say that BWF take badminton to the bottom since the popularity of the sport is increasing in the recent years and prize money of the whole tour increase by 40% from 2017, huh?
That I agree. The increased of prize money is a good thing. It is not like badminton is super popular with European countries like Asia. The popularity has increased well and I think BWF is doing good.
I think HSBC is strictly sponsoring the world tour just like how MetLife strictly sponsoring the SuperSeries
Somehow, I think I will keep referring these tournaments as follows: Level 1 : World Tour Final Level 2 : World Tour Super Series Premier Level 3 : World Tour Super Series Level 4 : World Tour Grand Prix Gold Level 5 : World Tour Grand Prix Level 6 : World Tour seems like moving on gonna be difficult for me haha
From now and the following years at least, BWF has done a commendable job of restructuring the tournaments and getting the prize money increased significantly, if not substantially, but the nomenclature or rebranding of the tournament names or titles is so unoriginal, boring, uninspiring, uninteresting, stale that it almost dampens our spirit and kills our excitement. Yeah, I exaggerate but that's how I feel. For this I'm not appeased by Shakespeare's famous quote “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.” In this case, it's more than you think as names can really make a difference. Methinks, it's still not too late for BWF to do something about it.
so, suggest a neutral venue... the dubai deal was a combination of desperation & luck. nobody else was willing to put up the money. you have to go where the money is. if you don't understand that, well, this conversation won't progress.
I believe that TOTAL & BWF have agreed a partnership extension until 2021 and confirming Total’s title sponsorship would stay covering BWF Major Events. The latest addition, HSBC, is a clear message as becoming Premier Sponsor for the BWF Major Events. Both of them could walk along together.
HSBC replaced MetLife. TOTAL remains as title sponsor until 2021. If you still remember, previously MetLife replaces OSIM. It will go the same with HSBC replaced MetLife. In fact, HSBC have a larger tournament coverage with the new BWF event structure add GPG (Level 5/Super 300) tournament into the main World Tour when the previous sponsor handle just SuperSeries event. Yes, the way is the same as that, plus including GPG now. It should be like these : Level 1 : World Tour Final Level 2 : (you need a name here) Level 3 : Super Series Premier Level 4 : Super Series Level 5 : Grand Prix Gold Level 6 : Grand Prix Level 2 is not SSP, it gives higher points than SSP. First time maybe difficult to remember and to mention it, you will get used to it later.
I know, but I don't like to add another name there (higher than SSP). That's why I prefer Level 1 : World Tour Final Level 2 : World Tour Super Series Premier Level 3 : World Tour Super Series Level 4 : World Tour Grand Prix Gold Level 5 : World Tour Grand Prix Level 6 : World Tour where I still stay consistent with the term 'World Tour' and partially setting aside level 6 World Tour without giving it an extension name at all. Just like how BWF does not give the name world tour to it, and only 'tour'. But I still see this as a tournaments part of the world tour, thus keeping the name world tour (should also accounted for calculating WTF participation as well)
You will be more confused if you insist on these things, believe me! Old SSF : World Tour Final Nothing Old : World Tour Super Series Premier Old SSP : World Tour Super Series Old SS : World Tour Grand Prix Gold Old GPG : World Tour Grand Prix Old GP : World Tour The previous formal complete name is MetLife BWF World Superseries and people choose to stay away from the term World and the sponsor name This time within a new name HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000/750/500/300, people will choose to stay away from the term World Tour and they would just use Super 1000/750/500/300 for the easy one. I don't think BWF will include Level 6 tournament into World Tour Finals qualification, after all. BWF mentioned only 26 tournaments (3+5+7+11) as a part of World Tour. Level 6 is given name BWF Tour Super 100, it's clearly not a part of BWF World Tour. Level 6 is a pathway/entry point into others World Tour (not World Tour Finals). 5.3.6 Player Commitment Regulations said : Top players couldn't play more than four Level 5 tournaments. Level 6 is not mentioned there (no regulation mention about Level 6 tournament for the top players).
True, but in the same document, it says: "One other category of tournament, the BWF Tour Super 100 level, also offers HSBC BWF World Tour ranking points. Although this level is not part of the HSBC BWF World Tour, ...". And of course, the BWF World Tour Regulations still list all 6 levels as belonging to the BWF World Tour. So the BWF contradicts itself but in two different places, it mentions that the Level 6/Tour 100/Grand Prix points will be included. That said, I agree it begs the question of what the purpose is of the maximum of 4 Level 5/Super 300/Grand Prix Gold tournaments and whether this will be accompanied by 'Top Committed Players' being banned from playing Level 6 or International Challenges. Presumably, it is either to prevent them from skipping Superseries to reap easier points in Grand Prix Gold. It doesn't seemed designed to keep GPG events weak, since they can still play in 4 of them and they can play all 11 of them as long as they play all 15 of the neo-Superseries.
The full paragraph is One other category of tournament, the BWF Tour Super 100 level, also offers HSBC BWF World Tour ranking points. Although this level is not part of the HSBC BWF World Tour, it is an important part of the pathway and entry point for players into the HSBC BWF World Tour tournaments. I think that Super 100 is also included in the world tour finals ranking.
Let's bold this word : BWF Tour Super 100 level, also offers HSBC BWF World Tour ranking points. The other is BWF World Tour Finals Ranking (formerly Destination Dubai Ranking). More clear here:
