As much as I would like to witness another duel between Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei, as visor rightly pointed out that the wild card is a courtesy, and Lin Dan really has no "right" to it. He's already been given one wild card and he could have easily started his come back attempt earlier by one or two tournaments. Assuming he would have won those, he could have reached world top 24 without a problem. At that point, China could have chosen CL, DPY and LD to play. I'm not actually sure how the rules work, but LD was technically world #83 at cut off for WC. In the most recent update of the world ranking, LD is not at #58, flying through the ranks by 25 places. He's obviously now top 64, and if China chooses to do so, they can send only Chen Long and Lin dan, and therefore satisfy BWF's limit of players per country. However, I'm not sure if they use his #83 rank due to cut off, which would not grant him the option of playing World Champion ships even if everyone between CL and LD did not participate (which would be Du Peng Yu, Wang Zheng Ming, Tian Hou Wei, Chen Yue Kun, Xue Song, Gao Huan). Plus, that's a huge sacrifice of having 2 world top 10 players drop out of World Championships for the sake of getting Super Dan in. In my books, having Lin Dan and Chen Long in the world championships would present China with the best chance of capturing the Men's Singles title if they're lucky enough to be on opposite sides of the draw.
LD could not play in earlier tournament and get points because he was in conflict with his team leaders and was not allowed to go.The BWF should look at the big picture and do what is good for the development of professional badminton which is small now. If we want it big, we need superstars and a lot of exposition for them.
China do have the option of internal trials. If he beats Du and Tian in trials, why can't China send him to the World Champs? It would take a strong personality team manager to cut out Du and Tian. Probably only one person can do it and get away with it - Li Yong Bo
The wild card is neither a privilege nor a right. It does not even have anything to do with Lin Dan unless he is given one. The wild card is a tool for the holder to further the cause of badminton. If the wild card is given to Lin Dan, it is not for the benefit of Lin Dan but for the benefit of badminton. If Lin Dan benefits from the wild card, it is just coincidental but not the purpose for giving him the wild card. BWF just chickened out from doing what the wild card is intended for.
Stop asking every few hours. When theres news, its gonna reach BC very quickly. Also, what brand LD uses does not really decide the fate of the world so you can really afford to wait a couple of days and not ask again and again and again.
What??? I thought I heard that LD is going to sign with Nike instead of LN and Adidas??? But back to the subject, technically not having the defending champion at the tournament kind of takes the luster off of it, didn't Liverpool win the champions league but where not able to qualify the next year? They were than given a spot by UEFA since it's embrassing for the defending champion not be there but they had to play in the qualifying rounds, now in the WC there isn't a qualifying round I think but really though, it does make more sense to have the defending champion at the tournament.
Frankly, I don't know why it is such an issue what brand LD signs with. I don't think anyone will be a better player if he uses the same racquet (or shoe or socks) as his idol or LD for this matter.
If using the same racquet as LD will make me a better player, I will pick Adidas, because I like Adidas and it brings a new and fresh feeling.
China should NOT sacrifice the other two players for LD inclusion in 2014 WC Let LCW maintain his fair good chance this time; China should not put the LD obstacle factor there. In no way should China sacrifice the other two players for LD inclusion. LD does not need the WC in such a way, he has been there many times, it's just his presence there will give the round impression of the high quality of the participants...for an annual tournament so-called "World Championships" ... but the bosses already put their cards on the table, so let it play out as such accordingly!!
Isn't it an insult and unfair to the other CHN players rank higher than him to be sidelined. These players feel they have a chance to win the title too.
What's the best choice to do : Just sending Lin Dan and Chen Long and have 2 real gold medal hopes ? Or keeping Lin Dan at home and send 2 others players instead, just to HOPE a bronze medal ?
I guess whether LD goes to WC depends on what LYB wants with DPY, WZM, THW, as well as how much he wants to spite BWF. But honestly, if I were LYB, I would send CL and LD while sending DPY, WZM, THW to lots of other events to help maintain their WR as they currently have 11/13/11 only. The other three will not help CHN defend their MS gold, only CL and LD can do that.
Given that it would be a 3 for 1 deal, I doubt that LD will be at the WC. Among those who are secretly counting their lucky stars, besides the obvious one, is also Chen Long, or may even be LYB. It is time to see whether Chen Long is a horse or mule, so to speak.
Looking at last year's WC qualification list again, LD's wild card effectively took away the reserve spot that would otherwise be awarded to Chen Jin or, more likely, Gao Huan. In other words, had BWF not granted LD the wild card, we would see the same list of participants except for Chen Jin or Gao Huan instead of LD. To those who passionately claimed that the reason for their objection to the wild card is for players from other countries/regions to gain an spot, the reality was that China would have four spots either way. It was just a matter of whether that fourth participant was a title threat or a potential early round pushover. For details, please see http://www.bwfbadminton.org/file.aspx?id=444186&dl=1 Note that after LD claimed the maximum 4 spots for China and Taufik Hidayat's declination, Rumbaka was able to claim the reserve spot as the fourth Indonesian player. Rumbaka was in line for that spot regardless whether the wild card was given. Other than the three Chinese players, no one's eligibility was affected by the wild card, but everyone's medal hope was severely dampened due to a higher level of competition.
