England Singles players - where?

Discussion in 'Professional Players' started by Cheung, Jun 19, 2021.

  1. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    I saw the top ranked (Race to Tokyo) English singles players are Chloe Birch at 78 and Toby Penty at 58.

    Doubles pairs are in the top 20.

    Why are the single players so far behind compared to the doubles? Does England have any men’s singles players training in Milton Keynes?
     
  2. Sundis

    Sundis Regular Member

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    -
     
    #2 Sundis, Jun 20, 2021
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2023
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  3. Tec07

    Tec07 Regular Member

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    Funding. As usual, at a guess.
     
  4. UkPlayer

    UkPlayer Regular Member

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    All England has been woeful. They did have a funding cut, but really the problem is institutional. This article covers some of it. If this is happening at the top level you can only imagine what goes on further down.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/badminton/59964249
     
  5. Smautf

    Smautf Regular Member

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    ...and let's just remind ourselves that the last English winner of the Men's Singles at the All England Championship was Ralph Nichols in the year 1938...
     
  6. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    The last English mens singles semifinalist I suspect would be Steve Baddeley. 1983 or thereabouts.
     
  7. RichF

    RichF Regular Member

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    The club scene in England centres around doubles, unless the kids are part of a county or national programme then they won't play much singles.

    ...and the scale (in terms of numbers and 'quality') of those programmes is miniscule compared to other countries.

    Badminton as a 'serious' hobby is just not in our culture.
     
  8. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Are there any womens singles players coming through?
     
  9. RichF

    RichF Regular Member

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    To give you an idea, here's the info on the Junior Pathway Trials:

    https://www.badmintonengland.co.uk/junior-performance-pathway/

    Just the top 5 (in singles, it's top 3 for doubles) from each age group will be invited...and since it's "trials" they won't all get a place.

    Wonder how many e.g. Denmark have at this level?

    Here's the current junior squads...though I doubt anyone below "Excel" has much official/regular support:

    https://www.badmintonengland.co.uk/junior-performance-pathway/england-junior-squads/

    See the problem?
     
  10. RichF

    RichF Regular Member

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  11. RichF

    RichF Regular Member

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    Also, who is Chun Kar Lung??? (Born 1975)
     
  12. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    I know him personally. I keep teasing him about his England ranking. :D
     
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  13. RichF

    RichF Regular Member

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    Is he the new Raymond Webster?
     
  14. RichF

    RichF Regular Member

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    If I won the lottery (it'd have to be a BIG win!) I'd start to introduce the Danish grassroots model - build a 'badmintonhal' (cheaper than a 'sports centre') in towns that aren't close to a city/large town (where facilities might exist) make it really cheap or even free for kids and get some proper coaching going to support it.

    It's GBP12 per hour for a court where I live, no junior discount, no support but I bet if you could make it 'a thing' people would use it - if you build it, they will come.

    Wonder if you can hire Ethan Rose's personal court?! (nice one, Dad!)

     
    #14 RichF, Mar 26, 2022
    Last edited: Mar 26, 2022
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  15. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    I was dreaming about this as well!

    Some counties are really poorly represented with juniors and can't even get a team together.

    It has to be a five court hall at the minimum to encourage singles to be played.

    Get coaches to work and be paid for junior holiday sessions. Half terms and long holidays. Am and pm sessions to make it attractive for coaches to have group sessions and earn an income.

    Free training is a bit difficult because some people will just freeload it as baby sitting service. You then get kids sitting around affecting the kids who would be more proactive. Some of our German forum member have noted this problem.
     
    #15 Cheung, Mar 26, 2022
    Last edited: Mar 26, 2022
  16. Smautf

    Smautf Regular Member

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    Sadly true, but let's give a shout-out to Colin, organiser of the London East Badminton Club, who devotes weekly a session of his entire 4 court venue to singles:

    https://www.meetup.com/London-East-Badminton-Club/

    I heard that in Denmark there is a hybrid form of the game at club level which also includes men's and women's singles as well as mixed a level doubles. Can anyone confirm? Would seem like a good idea by way of making a start.
     
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  17. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    And he does a coaching session as well. Overall sounds great. I visited the Sunday morning session before on a visit to London just before the pandemic started. Bumped into an old badminton friend there and there was another Indonesian guy attending who looked just like Rudy Gunawan. Didn't play like him though!
     
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  18. Jonno22

    Jonno22 Regular Member

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    The Yorkshire League has a similar set up and is very highly regarded
    1MS player
    1WS player
    2MD pairs (play both pairs)
    2WD pairs (play both pairs)
    4XD pairs (1v1, 2v2, 3v3 4v4)

    This covers the whole of Yorkshire from around Sheffield all the way up to near Middlesbrough and then each city/area have their own more local league e.g. Bradford league, Sheffield league, Hull league etc which focuses on doubles events.
     
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  19. Smautf

    Smautf Regular Member

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  20. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    I didn’t understand this reply until I searched for the name on badminton England and also tournamentsoftware.

    He must be famous on the circuit.
     

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