About Super Series Badminton World Federation Over the last decade or so, the Badminton World Federation (formerly known as the International Badminton Federation) has embarked on a series of changes that is slowly but surely giving the sport the recognition it truly deserves. The introduction of the Super Series is just one of the major steps that the BWF hopes would generate more interest around the world. The Super Series will consist of twelve Open events, which will each offer a minimum of US$ 200,000 in prize money. These will serve as the qualifiers for the season ending Super Series Finals. The Finals itself will be the richest ever badminton tournament to be staged, offering a staggering US$ 500,000 in prize money for the first year. The Proton Malaysian Open will be opening leg of the Super Series. Korea, England, Switzerland, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Denmark, France and Hong Kong will each host one leg of the Super Series with China being given the right to host two legs. Only the top eight singles and top eight pairs in each category would qualify for the Finals. However, only a maximum of two players per country would qualify for the Finals. The BWF, in its effort to make the Series more exciting, has also restricted the number of entries for each category in the twelve events to just 32, of which only four will come from qualifiers. To further add to the excitement, BWF has also decided to do away with the national separation ruling in all the Super Series events. This means that two players from the same country can meet as early as the first round. There will also be an increased television coverage worldwide, with each host required to guarantee the live telecast of the semi-final and finals. In addition, Sports Media Promotions, who are the marketing agents for the Super Series, has made a deal with IEC in Sports to produce 36 episodes of the World of Badminton half hour programme that will be telecast in major markets throughout the world. The Super Series is certainly going to elevate the profile of badminton to a more deserving status.
Hmm...only two players percountry. Very lame indeed. Thats why badminton will never be more popular than it is right now. Too country centris. Majorly, fans only like players who coming from his own country. Example: Tennis master Cup series. Also like the Super Series final where only top 8 men and women players in tennis will enter. But it did not limit by country. At one time, this final event had 5 girls from Russia. Why not, that year 2004, Russia girl really dominating the girls tennis by winning 3 of 4 Grandslam. And this lame rules from the BWF will not help at all. Only 2 percountry. China will suffered from MS, WS and WD. Meanwhile Indonesia and Malaysia will suffer from MD.
Like right now the SS standings in MS: LD, BCL, CJ and CY in the top 8, but because of this very stupid rules, CJ and CY had to give their spot to Bonsak and Shoji Sato. Okay, Bonsak is a good player but Shoji Sato? Does he deserved to be in final 8 more than Chen Jin and Chen Yu? What a laugh!!!!!
Suggestion to BWF: change in Super Series venues! Well, in case BWF officials are reading this... I suggest that in the future [if the organizers and finances are ready], in order to globalize badminton let's have: 1. USA Super Series; Why? Why ask further on why we need the USA to make badminton BIG! [answer: for the $$$ $$$ $$$ to improve for everybody in badminton!] Together with Canada, the USA rules badminton in the American continent. Probably have the biggest badminton fan-base in the continent too. As for the money... Aiyaa, $200,000 for a sponsor like Wilson is nothing! [yeah, easy for me to say...] 2. Russia Super Series; a growing world power again, with a lot of increasing interest in badminton... Out of nowhere, in 2007 they have an International Challenge and a Grand Prix Gold tournament... Their future purchasing power for badminton gears should be huge! And badminton the a perfect indoor sport for East European countries with such looonggg winters... [note that their tennis stars mainly practice in Florida ] Winning the Russia Super Series can be the dream for many Eastern Euro players! Like winning the French Open tennis is the dream of many Western Europeans... 3. India Super Series; one billion people in the super sub-continent, growing economy... Pretty good badminton history too! I can't see why not! 4. Germany Super Series; substitute the Swiss Super Series to this one. Better population size and market. Germany, England, and France are the centers of Western Europe... Rule these 3, the rest like Spain, Italy, etc. will follow... Note: I arranged the list from number 1 to 4 in order of importance! ------------------------------------- In order to keep the number of Super Series to 12 like this year, then we have to drop some of the existing ones and relegate them to Grand Prix Gold status... But hey, if the prize money is high enough, the stars will come... like the Chinese Taipei Open... Still very exciting! Ok, here's the hard part... who should we drop? 1. One of the China Super Series, preferably China Masters... Why need two Super Series in China if you want to globalize the sport? The Chinese are already convinced that badminton is a good sport for them to follow... 2. Singapore Super Series... Sorry neighbours... but the potential badminton growth in Singapore is just not big enough... Grand Prix Gold is good enough for Singapore laaah... 3. Hong Kong Super Series... Same as Singapore... Hong Kong is way too small laaah... Sorry. 4. Swiss Super Series... Swiss is not as important as USA, Russia, India, and Germany. Sorry, but Swiss should be content with just Grand Prix Gold status, like Taipei, Thailand, Phillipine etc.... Note: I also list this from 1 to 4 in order of non-importance... the 1st one who has to go is the yearly China Super Series 1 and China Super Series 2... It emphasized too much that badminton is a Chinese game... ------------------------ If we have a chance later, then we can talk about... a. Africa Super Series; most probably held in South Africa, who so far have dominated African badminton this year, and they have the $$$... Other African countries are either not safe or do not have enough badminton strength to be interested in a Badminton Super Series... b. Australia Super Series; the strongest badminton country in Oceania and surely have the $$$ capacity... But the badminton playing population and overall popularity in these places are just too far away from getting a Super Series tournament. They should try some GP then move on to GP Gold tournaments to test the market first...
wow, i think you'd meet some very stiff opposition if you want to drop the SIN or HK open as SS. the china masters and swiss open i agree with, i don't really see the point of china hosting 2 SS events anyway.
Yeah, I know... I just wrote the things above to make BWF consider the future badminton potential of: Singapore and Hong Kong vs. Russia and India ... And again, I am not proposing that there should not be any big tournaments in the 2 cities... mmm... but I think GP Gold sounds good for them... Singapore Grand Prix Gold... sounds good right? Hong Kong Grand Prix Gold... also already sounds just right... Taipei Grand Prix Gold... Macau Grand Prix Gold... Thailand Grand Prix Gold... Phillipine Grand Prix Gold... Australia Grand Prix Gold... [one day] South Africa Grand Prix Gold... [one day] These tournaments belong to the same club... Right below the Superseries...
i agree india and america have to be exposed more to badminton if the sport is to gain further popularity worldwide, not too sure about russia though. they have some good players, but is the market substantial enough? plus, it's freaking cold over there!!
exactly..thats why badminton can be popular...indoor..indoor..even indoor tennis is popular in Rusia...
South Africa is small market also...poverty is below average...mostly only rich people ( mostly white) can play badminton.... I agree that we need USA SS
From what I learned, Russia's badminton popularity is sky-rocketing! Yup. Exactly, hau-ge! Because it is very cold [outside] in Russia, thus badminton shall become popular due to badminton's [indoor] nature! Yeah, I think Africa needs a GP for now... and then a GP Gold tournament a bit later... Improve badminton's visibility first before doing any Super Series there. Soccer also chose the USA and then Asia as their 'growth' potential first... Africa comes later... In 2010, Africa will get to host a Soccer World Cup [for the first time ever]... So maybe Africa can get a badminton Super Series in 2030 or something... I think as a LA resident, I guess you shall also suggest that the USA Super Series be held in LA eh? Fair enough! Either LA or SF laaahhh... NY already has the tennis US Open etc... Too clutered there. Also, I suspect the largest badminton playing community in the USA are in LA and SF... [though I have no data to support my suspicion] Other big US cities... mmm... I lived in Chicago and visited other big cities like Miami, Philadelphia, Atlanta, etc... mmm... I didn't see the badminton culture developing there yet...
chris@ccc opening a can of worms Hi Dreamzz, I just want to add in another point of view. Coming from Malaysia, I know there are millions of Badminton players in Malaysia. Now staying in Australia, I have learned there are thousands of players here. But in both BAM (Badminton Association of Malaysia) and BA (Badminton Australia), correct me if I am wrong, the number of registered Badminton players are mainly their concern. And also BWF (Badminton World Federation), correct me if I am wrong again, registered players affiliated with their registered National Associations throughout the world are their concern. However, BWF is trying to establish more Associations in many countries, eg, in Eastern Europe, Africa, America, etc... But I am not here to criticise/praise BWF. It is just a fact that BWF is paying more attention to National Associations registered with them, and not to countries with most number of recreational/social players. To my knowledge, the UK has the highest number of registered players. And that is why the All-England is so big in the BWF Tournament Calendar. So reading previous posts here, I am not surprised if Switzerland has more registered players than Germany, and Hong Kong has more registered players than India, etc... Perhaps, what I have posted here could open a can of worms, for us to discuss. Cheers... chris@ccc
National Associations with more registered players pays more to the BWF warchest and in return gets more votes [and voice] in the BWF. Naturally the ones in charge of BWF have to pay a lot of attention to the de-facto 'majority shareholders'... From what I understand, BWF in some ways are like the United Nations... China, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, England, and Denmark are sort of like the de-facto permanent member of the security-council in the BWF... Although none of them have veto rights or anything, but their voices have to be heard! For further details, please read the BWF statutes...
I agreed that Russia now have more good players. Indonesia, Malaysia, China must be awared with this.... In the other hand, I am more happy that badminton now will surround with 'model' faces and good looking players....then they also can promote badminton indirectly when they become the model such as Maria Sharapova... It is good, isn't it?
BWF tournament list in the year 2020 In my humble opinion, the Super Series list in the year 2020 for badminton, the global #1 racket game: China SS [just one SS please, not two] India SS Korea SS Indonesia SS Malaysia SS Australia SS All England SS Denmark SS France SS Russia SS USA SS South Africa SS Supported by: Swiss Gold GP Germany Gold GP Brazil Gold GP Nigeria Gold GP Egypt Gold GP Thailand Gold GP Philippine Gold GP Macau Gold GP Hong Kong Gold GP Singapore Gold GP China Gold GP [formerly China SS 2] Japan Gold GP Iran Gold GP Argentina Gold GP Mexico Gold GP And also: Turkey GP Spain GP Italy GP Poland GP Dutch GP India GP [if the SS is in Kolkota, then maybe the GP in Mumbay] Iraq GP Dubai GP Sri Lanka GP Pakistan GP Vietnam GP Myanmar GP Cambodia GP Indonesia GP [if the SS is in Jakarta, the GP should be in Surabaya] Brunei GP Kenya GP Morocco GP Zaire GP Russia GP [if the SS is in Moscow, the GP should be in St. Petersburg] Ukraine GP Canada GP Peru GP USA GP [if the SS is in Los Angeles, then the GP might be in New York] New Zealand GP Australia GP [if the SS is in Sydney, then maybe the GP in Perth]
That would be a very long calendar for players and officials My opinions: 1 Major Team Event in May each year Thomas and Uber Cup (qualifying tourney in Feb) Sudirman Cup 3 Major Slams+1 World Championships (July) in non-Olympic years: March: All England -- history and prestige September: Japan -- somehow, I get the feeling that Japan Open has a pretty good reputation November: USA -- badminton need exposure in USA for it to be a global sport 12 Super Series events, organized as back-to-back event: January: Malaysia and Korea March: Swiss April: Hong Kong and China June: Singapore and Indonesia July/August: India and Russia September: Middle-East country (rich) October: Denmark and France 12 Grand Prix Golds: January: Vietnam February: Australia and New Zealand March: German April: Macau and Chinese Taipei May/June: Philippines and Thailand July/August: Ukraine September: Qatar October: Poland November: Canada or South Africa and various GP events
Ha ha ha, I know what I wrote was one looongg list of tournaments... In particular, the GP Gold and GP list was meant to illustrate a globalized sport, not reality... I also know why Japan Open seems prestigious to you, it is probably the longest running tournament in Asia [that I know of]... Our version of the All England, actually... So, you have a pretty good point on making it a major slam... As for the schedule, I agree that BWF should keep the back-to-back schedule...
IBF should come up with more money events , like SS should be at least US$ 300 K and increase GP level with Minimum US$ 120 to 200 K ( for examples) and find a way to encourage more full time players...honestly not many European can afford to earn a living just playing badminton...even Martin or Peter has another job to suport them......it is sad but true.....It will be long way to get Badminton into Tennis level....more individual not a team sport....
In 2020, the prize money need to reach: US$ 1,000,000 for a SS US$ 500,000 for a Gold GP US$ 250,000 for a GP US$ 125,000 for an International Challenge US$ 50,000 for an International Series US$ 10,000 for a Future Series
This certainly looks a lot like the Tennis model, with SS=Masters Series. Grand Slams will of course offer the most prize money. Now, will u run for the BWF president by then ??
