From what i read is, they complain mostly about the sad future without big 3. So its about quality, not about the systems Badminton in vietnam cant compare to thailand, malay, indo... but still a popular sport here. And still we are lacking of sponsor. Tiến minh had to pay almost all by his own. Its definately nowhere near fine They scare that football will take all the spotlight in olympic so football in olympic is just u23+3. A strong sport like football can stand alone without olympic. I call that more than fine
That's because women soccer is huge in college sports, i'd say most if not all US women soccer team is seeded from there. While all the male athletic talents went to american football instead so men's soccer just get the leftover. But yes, even with the much higher popularity and funding of soccer in the US, it is still not getting anywhere.
How did it get there from the 1980’s onwards? It’s an interesting observation because women are the drivers for increased participation. Although we look at badminton trying to grow as a whole, in certain countries exploring increased participation in women may be a strategy. After all, fewer women are involved in sports and therefore there is a bigger potential for growth in this group.
I'm a bit late to this thread but in response to some of the earlier posts on this thread regarding why the US isn't adopting sport and the less economically advantaged countries. America already excels in quite a few sports and most schools have already established their sports. The parents grew up playing these sports and want their kids to play the sports they are familiar with. Why cultivate typical American kids that are exposed to American Football, Baseball, and Basketball to play badminton on an international level so that the winner of a Men's Doubles tournament can split a measly $20,000 prize money with their partner. That's such a joke when A-Rod gets over 20 million. Why don't top coach ex-professional players go to Bangladesh or Sub Saharan Africa to coach and cultivate the youth? Think about it for 2 seconds. Put yourself in Viktor Axelsen's shoes. You spent your whole life training, practicing, learning Mandarin, winning small cash prize tournaments here and there, and you have to retire at around 35. You have 30 more years until you reach 65 which is the normal retirement age. Are you going to some no-name badminton country like Togo in West Africa where the GDP per capita is probably less than $2000 to make no money and live in those conditions? I can't imagine badminton coaches making much money at all. So IT IS all about the money. What do you expect it to be? Why would you submit yourself to living in some dangerous country. Why don't you do it then, because if you're a decent club level player, you might just be the best badminton player in Togo, and you can make your start in Togo and revolutionize the sport in a whole country. Yeah.. it's because of the money isn't it? I agree that the situation that the whole sport is in isn't ideal, and I wish things were different, but it's a very complex problem with a very complex solution, and it won't be as simple as, "If we just did X and Y, then it would help solve the problem." Maybe, but probably not.
But to end things on a high note, I did want to write a little encouraging story that happened to me recently. I play at a club and we rent out a school gymnasium for our badminton. We're suppose to be out of the gym by 10pm, but me and just 1 other guy were pushing the time limit a little bit and the janitor came in around 10 minutes after 10. She stood their just glaring at us, so I figured she was telling us to get the hell out, but instead, she was like "oh no I just want to watch you guys. I have never seen this sport played." So we were almost done and we were like... okay, why not. Then we played the next point, and coincidentally had one of the best rally points in that game. It was probably around 30-35 shots filled with good smashes, amazing defensive blocks, drop shots, more smashes, etc. We were both drained of energy after that point, and the janitor was like, "wow that was really intense." This isn't the first time something like this has happened. I know for a fact, people who have never played or seen the sport are amazed by it, and I'm not even an A level club player. I think part of the problem for the sport is a huge lack of awareness. And at least this problem is a better problem to have than say devising a solution for a 15-year plan to cultivate youth players into professional players. I think that can follow if we fix the awareness problem first. Not saying that is an easy task, but at least we are starting with high quality oak tree seeds that have the potential to grow big rather than bad ones so to speak.
Again wrong comparison. The gap is ridiculously big between a good team and a poor team in badminton. It is so big that it's not worth watching. Basket is still exciting to watch because both teams KNEW HOW TO PLAY but the other team is simply stronger because they have better players and strategy. Imagine watching lee chong wei playing against an African or South American player. It's a waste of my 20 minutes television time. Not just my time but also the broadcast company. They rather use that 20 minutes to display commercials that make even more money.
What is you smoking homie? I'm pretty sure when the US dream team plays against some Asian country with players that have half the team under 6 feet tall, it's pretty much the same thing. You could probably put 5 bench players on any US team against the 5 best Japanese players, and the US will obliterate them. And I'd know. I lived in Japan for most of my life, and being half Japanese, I can tell you without bias that basketball is pathetic over there. The international high school that I attended in Japan used to play friendlies against college teams and would beat them. And don't even get started on NFL players versus Japan. That's a recipe for a lot of Japanese guys visiting the hospital.
