NEWS : More courts may be added to next year's Singapore Badminton Open

Discussion in 'Singapore / Indonesia / Malaysia Open 2003' started by kwun, Sep 11, 2003.

  1. kwun

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    More courts may be added to next year's Singapore Badminton Open

    By Patwant Singh

    More courts could be made available for next year's Singapore Badminton Open at the Indoor Stadium.

    The recently concluded Yonex-Sunrise Open saw some matches played into the wee hours of the morning.

    And organisers are planning to add two more courts to the four used this year.

    Still the event, now in its third year, was a smashing hit, with the largest field and more fans in the stands.

    No doubt it was an almost all-China finals, but the crowds still came to see the big names.

    The Singapore Sports Council said the event saw a 15 percent increase in attendance, some 3,500 more than last year's 20,000 spectators.

    Better still, they were more evenly spread, with the preliminaries also getting a decent turnout.

    The quarter-final tie between Chen Hong and Ronald Susilo also saw a big turnout, an atmosphere befitting a final.

    The Singapore Badminton Association said other players, like Lili and Xiao Luxi, also had good showings despite their injuries.

    Still there is room for improvement if they want to be in the big league.

    Ms Jacqueline Lim, Executive Director at SBA, said: "Fundamentally, all of them will have to improve their fitness, they have come to realise the game is really of a different playing field...and although our palyers have improved, the rest have improved at a rate faster than us."

    Improvement could be made on the tournament front too.

    Players were stretched when some preliminary matches ended around 3 in the morning.

    Mr Steven Yeo, Deputy CEO of SSC, said: "This has become a global experience in badminton, the World Championships recently in Birmingham, the games went way past midnight also.

    "Obviosly, next year we will be relooking at the whole programme, exploring whether there is a feasibilty to put in another two courts and managing our timing so we can have flexibilty."

    For now, the organisers say the tournament need not be upgraded to a six-star status as its five-star ranking is sufficient to bring in the big names.
     

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