Because of LD's low ranking, he will probably face CL or LCW in early rounds. If he is in the same half of CL, it will be interesting to see who LYB wants to send to face LCW.
This news made my day! Hope LD will still play US open just to get ready. Is it the first time seeing him playing in America if he does come? Wish he come!
Playing the US Open is just for the sponsor. It will only hurt but not help LD' preparation. He may do it anyway as part of new phase of his life. The most intrigueing question is indeed which of CL or LCW whom LD will meet in the early rounds at WC. Maybe BWF can do something about that also
i don't see this LD wildcard sacrificed other players hardwork during the qualifying period. all those players that already qualified due to ranking points in qualifying period still would entry the WC. it's just now BWF add one player to the list, LD. and BWF COM of course gave the wild card for a reason, like CLELY had pointed out, it's for LD achievements so far, and for another reasons. whatever the reason be, LD already working it out too before reach his position now. and what was your opinion to, for one example, OG qualifying rules? to let better players who had compete more and achieved more stayed at home and forget their olympic dream just because their country already had too many participants, and then giving the chance to more inexperience players from country not familiar to badminton for particular reason. is that a fairness you're looking for? if yes, as good as BWF had their reason to applied such rule in OG (to spread the sport towards the world, for OG spirit, etc), this time it's just the same case. BWF just had another reason to gave the wildcard, and unfortunately, it's for LD.
US Open sponsor is Yonex, not LD's sponsor Li-Ning. But you are right. Li-Ning is extending business in NA. Their pricing is more aggressive now. Check www.li-ning.com. But It could be part of the plan to get LD in low level games to taste the game but not try very hard. Just like he went for Thailand Open before. Hope LD in LCW's half. Want to see LD vs CL in the final, Legendary vs Future.
What you can do about unfairness? Tell me an incident which you had done to right the unfairness. Life is like that, accept it, my friend.
Yea, that will be very interesting. My guess is CL will be sacrificed. I say so for two reasons: (1) LCW is still better than CL. LD is a safer bet than CL. (2) If LD wins WC2012 in GuangZhou, the endorsement LD will receive will be much more than if CL wins. LYB and his team get a huge portion of the amount of the endorsement money.
This time LYB will let the best player win. I think LD will win. I hope LCW win. CL is a level below LD and LCW. Anything can happen, we may have a champion other than the big 3.
LD's fitness is still unknown. they skipped him for Sudirman Cup and have him enter smaller tournaments like US Open. 3 month isn't a very long time to regain one fitness. we will see.
Personally, I don't think LYB will favour anyone, the most important question is whose form is better during the championship. Besides, LYB has recently said he will not set any goals or demand Lin Dan performs up to his expectations but just go with the flow. And Xia XZ simply said Lin Dan's main role and responsibility henceforth is to pass on his experience. I think neither LYB nor XXZ wants to rely too much on Lin Dan to deliver the goods, fully aware that Lin Dan is going through a special, not-totally-committed phase of his career and beginning a new phase in life. For the big time sponsors,namely, Li-Ning and Red Bull China, just having Lin Dan's presence and participation in the event is an important fulfillment of their marketing campaigns, it doesn't really matter whether Lin Dan emerges champion or not. As for wild cards, it's common practice in several sports, such as tennis where the recipients often aren't even defending champions, example Alex Kuznetsov and Shelby Rogers http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/06/3383645/with-wild-cards-kuznetsov-rogers.html [h=2]Professional tennis[/h]In professional tennis tournaments, a wild card refers to a tournament entry awarded to a player at the discretion of the organizers. All ATP and WTA tournaments have a few spots set aside for wild cards in both the main draw, and the qualifying draw, for players who otherwise would not have made either of these draws with their professional ranking. They are usually awarded to players from the home and/or sponsoring country (sometimes after a tournament where the winner is awarded the wild card), promising young players, players that are likely to draw a large crowd, have won the tournament earlier or players who were once ranked higher and are attempting a comeback. Some Grand Slam tournaments swap wild cards, like Australian Open,French Open and US Open[1]. [h=3][edit]Notable wildcards[/h] In 2001, Goran Ivanišević won the Wimbledon Men's Singles Championships having been handed a wild-card entry by the organising All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. At the time, he was ranked World No.125.[SUP][citation needed][/SUP] In 2009, Kim Clijsters won the US Open tournament, after receiving a wild-card entry. It was her first Grand Slam tournament since announcing her comeback to the sport, having first retired in 2007 to start a family.[SUP][citation needed][/SUP] [SUP] -- the above is an excerpt from [/SUP]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_card_(sports)
Interesting mention of li-ning. I suspect now that li-ning is the official sponsor of all bwf event, they must have made some "influence" on Lin Dan's wild card. Esp since bwf mentioned before that they won't give it to him and also how much ld presence would made in term of marketing and exposure.
There is nothing unfair about this. When you are a double Olympic gold medalist and four-time and defendnig world champion, your participation is a gift to others more than a gift from the others. Obviously, this is not so good for LCW and his fans. But it is great to most badminton fans and the tournment organizer. All and all, this is the right decision for the sport of badminton. Kudos to BWF for making a wise decison for once.
Lately, Lin Dan has been saying he's feeling a bit lost with no sense of direction and not even making any short-term plans for his badminton career. Now I'm glad he has something to work towards for the next six months or so, that is, the World Championship in August followed by the China National Games in September (am I right about the date?). These two events should keep him sufficiently motivated for the time being. While his physical fitness is reported to be 80-90 % according to his personal trainer, his match fitness or form isn't up to the mark in the eyes of LYB and XXZ, which explains why he was pulled out of the All-England last minute and then now excluded from the Sudirman Cup. In the last BAC at Taipei, I read that MAS coach Rashid (and Tay Seu Bok ?) only gave Lin Dan about 80% back to his best. Well,we shall see how well he prepares himself the next three months for the world championship after such a long layoff of six months (actually eight months if you count lack of tournament competition). Lastly, just a thought - maybe in order to be fair to all the seeded players, BWF might consider seeding Lin Dan. Anyway, this time I wholeheartedly applaud BWF for making such a sensible and correct move on wild card entry - I read that it was a closed-door unanimous decision by the BWF COM, a healthy sign of being people-oriented and valuing human capital.
If you are the reigning champion it would be a different story. Just like soccer's World cup. Last winner qualify automatically and no one complain about that. Finally, BWF is doing the right thing. Though it is a sad news for LCW's fans. LOL
My question is have there always been wild cards available for the World Championships? If yes, then BWF is within its rights to grant them. If no, and they made it up just for this scenario, it comes across as unprofessional and spineless.
Yes, wildcards are always available (AFAIK) in the 2011 World Championships, the wildcard selected by the host was Toby Penty (at the time ranked outside the top 150) (Just checked further, in 2010 the wildcard selected by the host France was Simon Maunoury) Therefore, BWF are well within their rights here.
