Seriously though, purely from a fan's perspective, I think badminton would be more fun and competitive if all players were "independent" of their nation's influence (sorta like in tennis). At the risk of stating the obvious, I think most badminton fans are fans because they enjoy watching players play and winning/losing trying their best. I don't think badminton fans genuinely enjoy not being able to watch a game because the "head coach" ordered them to concede a walkover. If you want "China" to win, then maybe you would genuinely enjoy that. But if you are a badminton fan (for the reason above) and you want "badminton" to win, you most likely wouldn't.
Other than a really inspired Japan playing out of their skins, I don't see how anyone can stop CHN. Infact it would be surprising if anyone else manages to strech CHN to a live last match, although on paper each of the top 8 possess the ability to win two rubbers in the same tie. Can't see anyone actualising it twice
Japan's Kento Momota wins OUE Singapore Open men's singles Published on Apr 12, 2015 4:25 PM Kento Momota of Japan returns a shot to Hu Yun of Hong Kong at the OUE Singapore Open on Sunday, April 12, 2015. Momota defeated Hu to be crowned the men's singles champion. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO By May Chen KENTO Momota was crowned champion in the men's singles at badminton's OUE Singapore Open on Sunday, winning his first Superseries final. The Japanese world No. 10 beat Hong Kong's Hu Yun (No. 13) 21-17, 16-21, 21-15 in a match that lasted almost 80 minutes at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. This makes Momota the first shuttler in Japanese history to win a men's singles title at a Superseries event. He was also part of team that won the Thomas Cup last year. Said the 20-year-old, speaking through a translator: "I felt a little bit of pressure going into the match because of the possibility of making history, but I just tried to turn that pressure into motivation." Hu, meanwhile, was leading in the third game but lost his momentum following a successful challenge by Momota. Hu had played successive three-game matches coming into the final, beating world No. 1 Chen Long of China along the way. In the women's singles, China's Sun Yu fought off three match points to beat Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu-ying 21-13, 19-21, 22-20. The world No. 11 was playing her first Superseries final, and also has a superior 3-0 head-to-head record against the Taiwanese. In the mixed doubles, originally slated to be the first match of the day, China's Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei won the event without playing a single point after team-mates Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong gave them a walkover, citing injury. Lu had an apparent longstanding history of Baker's cyst in his left knee, which was aggravated and caused him to be unable to flex his knee
China doubles walkover angers fans Zhao Yunlei and Zhang Nan won the Mixed Doubles category uncontested after their compatriots withdrew. Photo: OUE Singapore Open 2015 Lu and Huang’s withdrawal from S’pore Open final a repeat of 2011 incident, also involving Chinese By Adelene Wong Published: 4:16 AM, April 13, 2015 SINGAPORE — A number of fans who bought tickets to the final day of the OUE Singapore Open were left fuming yesterday after the last-minute withdrawals of world No 6 mixed-doubles pair Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong. The final between Chinese pairs, world No 1 Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, and Lu and Huang, was expected to start at 1pm at the Singapore Indoor Stadium yesterday. But instead, Zhang and Zhao were handed the title via a walkover after their team-mates withdrew from the competition, due to Lu’s knee injury. Zhang went on to partner Fu Haifeng in the men’s doubles final later in the day, but the duo were beaten 2-1 by Indonesians Angga Pratama and Ricky Karanda Suwardi. This is not the first time that the Singapore Open has been hit by such an incident. In 2011, former world No 1 and five-time world champion Lin Dan had conceded a walkover to team-mate Chen Jin in the men’s singles final. Citing a stomach ailment for his late withdrawal, the Chinese superstar was booed by the crowd during his speech to fans. Yesterday, one fan, Yong Wai Chien, who came to watch the finals with three friends, said he was disappointed by the pull-out. “As a badminton fan, I am disappointed. Such situations tarnish the image of the sport,” said Yong, who bought a S$60 season pass to the tournament. “Even before coming to the match today, I was worried about the pull-out of one of the pairs of finalists in the mixed doubles. There is depth and strength in the China national badminton team and they use that to manipulate results.” Added Albert Har, 50: “The mixed-doubles match is usually the most dynamic and interesting to watch and it was set as the opener to today’s matches. I feel like I wasted my money. To me, the match was clearly thrown away to allow Zhang Nan to concentrate on the men’s doubles.” Another fan, Brandon Kuan, hopes the Badminton World Federation (BWF) will look into such incidents, saying: “This is not right, though I am a little bit numb towards such withdrawals ... It is hurting the image of the tournament in Singapore. “I don’t know what the BWF can do, but perhaps, they can launch a proper investigation into each walkover match.” When contacted by TODAY, representatives from the BWF — the world governing body for the sport — as well as the event’s organiser, the Singapore Badminton Association, referred to the official statement from the tournament doctor. Said the statement by the Singapore Emergency Ambulance Services: “(Lu) has a long-standing history of having a Baker’s cyst in his left knee. After the (semi-final) match, the cyst increased in size and caused posterior knee pain. He was unable to fully flex his left knee and that resulted in knee weakness. As a result, he is not fit to continue to participate in the competition.” The Chinese national team has also been hit by other scandals in the past. At the 2012 London Olympic Games, top-seeded pair Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli — along with three pairs from South Korea and Indonesia — were booted out of the competition for trying to lose their matches, in an attempt to manipulate the draw.
Your post is an excellent example of a civil critique, one that is without rude and trollish remark. Its Not about others opinion, but the mannerism in which it is delivered. A proper critique, like the one above, is different to rude and antagonistic post. -Calling such post BS is not uncivil.
An independent committee should be formed an investigation launched . If guilty then Ban the players for Life time and if team is found guilty then Ban them too . Otherwise just go on . No nee to speculate or blame .
You must be new here. This issue has been discussed many times before. Ban the team? You are talking about big brother. BWF cannot afford to do that.
I don't see anything wrong with WOs in same nation/same team international contests. Everyone would want their team to have such a luxury. It reminds me of the hoopla around Barrichello consistently giving track to Schumi in the early noughties.
I have empathy for Lu, as I have the same problem : I have Baker's kist on one of my knee, and sometimes it get difficult to bend it.
That is why the CHN team act like this : from their point of view (which is understandable, at least for me), those WO are legitimate and natural.
I think the best option for badminton would not be like tennis, fully independent players, but leagues of clubs. It already exist, but the structures are weak and the seasons short. Perhaps like football, club based on cities?
It doesn't matter what you think but giving WO intentionally is an offence. Also what happened earlier in whatever sports also dont matter.
As expected the WO is justified. I commend Lu for being smart and accepting defeat rather than aggravating his injury by playing.
Champs out as shocks roll in Singapore POSTED: 11 Apr 2015 The Singapore Badminton Open will see new singles champions after both of last year's winners crashed out of the semi-finals on Saturday (Apr 11). Indonesia's Simon Santoso plays against Japan's Kento Momota in their men's single semi-finals of the Singapore Open. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman) SINGAPORE: Japan's Kento Momota knocked out Singapore Open title-holder Simon Santoso to reach his first badminton Superseries final on Saturday (Apr 11), as women's champion Wang Yihan also crashed out. Momota, 21, took just 37 minutes to win 21-10, 21-13 against Indonesia's Santoso, who was troubled by a knee injury in the second game and sprayed unforced errors. Momota, who benefited from a walkover from H S Prannoy on Friday, said he came into the match with a special gameplan against last year's surprise winner from Indonesia. "Simon is very good at the net so I just try to keep playing the long rallies and not try to rush the game," said the world number 10. During the second game, Santoso was seen clutching his knee after a rally and asked for treatment. He said that the injury played on his mind during the rest of the match. "When he played to the right back court, my knee had a little shock and I became quite scared and the points after that, (the injury) affected me when I am moving forward," he said. "In the end, my knee was fine but I was trailing by quite a lot already." Momota will next meet Hong Kong's Hu Yun, who is also gunning for his first Superseries title after shocking China's world number one Chen Long in the second round. Hu, the world number 13, continued his strong run when he subdued Parupalli Kashyap of India 20-22, 21-11, 21-14 to book his spot in the final. Earlier, Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying stunned Chinese women's champion Wang 16-21, 21-9, 14-21 to set up a final against world number 11 Sun Yu. "The standard between Wang Yihan and I is quite large, so I actually thought that it's the end for me today," shrugged Tai. The other women's semi was also an upset as Sun beat Chinese compatriot and second seed Wang Shixian 21-14, 11-21, 21-19 to reach her first Singapore Open final.
Seems like Singapore fans who came to watch badminton spending dollars got frustrated. Thanks Uncle @Loh for the article. Even some of the fans were suggesting for an investigation from BWF !!!. Will BWF do that as if asked by the fans who got frustrated ?. Only time will tell. Uncle Loh .!! What is your take on this.? Since you also one of badminton fans from Singapore, i wanted to know about your opinion..?
