LYB is a nut case. However, WBF should indeed make their schedule friendly to domestic competitions. Badminton is not at the stage where a few super stars can create and support a massive global fan base. Badminton still needs to foster grass root interest, especially as a spectator sport. BWF should support local BA's efforts to increase the fan base. While LYB does not want more WBF tournaments, there are many second tier cities in China where people want to stage international events to enhance their cities' profile and prestige. Losing China Master probably has more to do with Aussies putting up crazy prize money rather than the lack of interest from China. Given how poorly attended China Master was, even from Chinese players, losing China Master is probably not a bad thing. China should stage a Grand Prix Gold event for the younger players, second tier national team players and other local players who did not get to the national team for one reason or another.
Indeed! Lack of interest is definitely not an issue! Those provincial-level leaders and government officials would love to have any international-level badminton tourneys to be hosted in their cities. Look at Dongguan (hosted the Exhibition matches between the 4 Kings late last year), Qingdao (hosted the 2011 Sudirman Cup Finals), Liuzhou (hosted the SS Finals 2011), Shenzhen (will be hosting the SS Finals 2012), Guangzhou (will be hosting the WC 2013). Imagine hosting the China Masters in Changzhou, which is in Jiangsu province and admittedly only a 2nd tier (prefecture-level) city in China. It is definitely inconvenient for foreign players to travel to Changzhou as they have to first go to one of the international hub and then transit to Changzhou. But, surely, BWF would welcome China to host a GP/GPG level event to replace the China Masters and it will surely attract provincial level players in China to participate.
Saina never played too many tournaments. She never complained of tiredness because of playing too many tournaments. I request you to give me some reference where you can point out her tiredness due to too many tournaments. She might have said because of injury or any other causes. Only if you participate too many tournaments, the question of tiredness due to playing of many tournaments arise !!! She missed Japan Open, China Masters, China Open etc. Only few players in the tournament can be taken as examples who participated so many tournaments.Like Ratchanok.But i think even she did not complain about anything. Your explaination seems like " chinese players need to take part in local games, hence BWF has to give space for the players who participate in all other BWF tournaments.. " Li Yongbo's statement is totally abnormal. What does he wanna imply by saying that Tournament calendar is jam packed. Is that what he mean like " why BWF has given chance to all other countries???" No other country's coaches would criticize BWF and referees other than Li Yongbo..
'Badminton is not at the stage where a few super stars can create and support a massive global fan base.' basically,i dont agree with the statement above. majority of badminton fans(atleast in malaysia) cant even count more than 10 international men single player they known. while lcw,ld,peter and taufik is the major crowd puller. i believe only me in the stadium,malaysia open 2012 final,was cheering for tago. they dont even know who is tago,except as the one lcw won against in 2010 ae
You meant my statement??? .. I just replied to JustinL for his statement based on tiredness in playing too many tournaments by players like Lee and Saina. I think Saina is also one of the crowd puller in Malaysia as it is a base to many indians. Even in India, they know Taufik and Lee chong wei very well than any other non-indian men singles players. They will chant Lee Chong Wei's name like anything.
hosting GP/GPG events in both Shanghai and Beijing would be the answers!! It would convenient for both domestic and international players/coaches.
Li YB is for the Asian Games, a major regional event to CBA to win national honours, similarly for SEA Games, Commonwealth Games, Pan-American Games,etc for the relevant nations. His concern is that there are too many tournaments for the players, the 12 SS/PSS, the GPGs, World Championships, TUC, Sudirman, and for those young enough,the WJC, AJC, University Games, and then the leagues with attractive payouts for the professionals to make extra bucks. Such a demanding schedule,and it's not easy to prioritise, takes a toll more on the top 10-20 players, I think, than most others who usually get eliminated in the early rounds. That's why it's so hard to be a top 10 player or rise to become one when you've to fare consistently in the QFs or SFs, if not win the title. And every time you reach the QF, you're likely to meet top-notch players who will practically stretch you to the limit; many times, even those ranked outside the top 20 can push you hard. A top 10 player,for example, not only must keep himself in tip-top condition, physically as well as mentally, he/she must play in enough tournaments that matter in order to maintain his/her rankings, apart from other obligations such as the national/regional/league/team championships. Needless to say, the risk of injury also increases proportionately, the consequences are high, so too the price to pay, not just in terms of the USD5K fines and ranking points lost. All the more,these world class players must learn to pace themselves, minimise the risk of injury (how many can stay injury-free?) and maintain their form as much as possible. But they cannot do that effectively when there are simply too many demands on them; it is anything but easy to juggle or strike a balance without giving some tournaments a miss and suffer for it.
Of course, Li YB or CBA always give top priority to Team Championships and events that put the nation first, namely Olympic Games, World Championships, Thomas and Uber Cups, Sudirman Cup, Asian Games, that goes without saying. As for the CBSL, he was against his national players taking part at first but gave in eventually, making a concession to them, esp after knowing how much more their table-tennis counterparts are making financially ( and I'd add for a physically much less demanding sport and at greatly reduced risk of injury). So how can the CBSL be that important to him as some of you are implying without getting it right? Look how many of his national players were injured playing in the league. Yeah, a very good idea for China to hold a couple of GPGs for their 2nd tier and lesser players to compete with international world class players. That's what the CBSL is trying to do too with the likes of Lee CW, Taufik, Intanon, KKK/TBH in addition to spicing it up for the spectators.
I dont know what you wanna insist from this.. I think Li yongbo's statement did affect your mind too much... !!! . May be.. you have so much admiration to him . According to me, he does not care or anything about any other players of the world other than chinese. . He wants his national players to participate in CBSL as well as all the other tournaments. If he feels that Tournament software as jam packed, why not he try to cancel his CBSL tournament . He usually never mind in criticizing others especially BWF or referees for the sake of the players of his nation. That does not do anything good to foreign players . So, if BWF has taken a decision, that definitely would be for the welfare of all the players including players from China.
Glad Australia won the bid for SS This year's Australian Open was a huge success. Tickets were completely sold out and seats were filled to the maximum. I still remember the massive que hours before entering the stadium for the finals... Some even traveled from other states and even overseas to watch the games. This was amazing considering the low badminton standard in Australia and its GP status. The level of organisation and attendance can even compete with SS level tournaments. It definitely shows that badminton has a growing popularity in Australia Overall the tournament was a great success and many praised Australia for such organisation despite being a GP Event. Alot of effort was put into the event, and I'm glad BWF and the rest of the world saw that This is a great positive step for Australian and Oceania badminton
Then LYB & CBA just need to adjust accordingly & choose the tournaments, just like everyone else. Dont need to year in year out complain about the packed schedule. Basically suck it up & move on like everybody else. LYB keeps complaining about this every year it has gotten annoying.
even if you play 30 tournaments or 10 tournaments in a year the best 10 tournament results are only taken into consideration for the ...Can't understand why these complains because even during the older times there used to be much part of the schedule like this...And the matches used to go for longer time than nowadays...Is it due to the factor that fitnesse of players is decreasing overtime...And these complaints does not exist only in badminton,even though we cannot compare it with other sports I actually think the schedule is a bit better than of other sports like Cricket,tennis(where best of 19 tournaments are taken for the ranking).
Don't understand why it should annoy you if you think the problem or concern is largely Li YB/CBA's only. Let it affect the CHN players, good for the ROW who are happy with it, isn't it? On the contrary, you should be delighted.
You already said it - 10 best tournament results, so just play in 10 will do, no matter how you perform? Is that what most players do?
