BWF & professional badminton would be in trouble if they had to provide grants for professional/ senior badminton competitions... The forummers dreaming about a "better" set-up can try to compete with BWF by sponsoring their own competitions which DO give grants for participation -- I'm sure they will eventually destroy/absorb BWF if they have the $$$ to do so for at least 2 Olympic cycles...
I'm waiting for the transgenders or transsexuals to sue for the right to play as OTHER than their born sex -- it should totally destroy badminton or the BWF if/when happens (chance for regional badminton associations to rise to prominence again?), though it will probably be the first happen in table-tennis...
It's a pity that England can't send a team even for the Thomas Cup which originated from the UK! It doesn't speak well of the BoE management who is probably unable to raise sufficient funds for their activities, including sending their teams to this world team championships.
Easiest option is to have their own separate category though I don't think there is any political pressure on BWF to create such a category.
It doesn't matter whether or not ENG originated badminton -- what's disheartening is that their funding is pulled after they got a MD bronze medal and arguably the best badminton results in a decade, so we lost a team at least as competitive as IND or FRA ... But ENG clearly has too much on its plate social-politically now and as a developed nation, would rather let their sports develop themselves privately/commercially...
they got some funding back, but they view it as a waste of funds to enter expensive team tournaments in which you have zero chance of achieving even a respectable outcome. makes perfect sense to me.
We'll see how well the Chinese girls can cope with pressure by then and how Japan ladies could stay away from injuries. Would love to see JPN vs CHN Uber Final next time.
You're confusing the International/World Championships (Olympics, TUC, Sudirman, etc) with the professional circuit/ World Tour... It's the professional circuit/ World Tour that you go penny-pinching over about the "returns" since there is no coverage or prize money if you don't get a "respectable outcome"-- VS International/World Championships (Olympics, TUC, Sudirman, etc) which are about diplomacy/ marketing/ representation because you get COVERAGE FROM GROUP STAGE/ROUND ONE. That's why even when they can't afford or be bothered to send their players to the professional circuit/world tour, smaller countries like SGP won't miss the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, South-east Asian Games if they can help it. But unfortunately for ENG, they've gone back to what JPN used to do before Park Joo Bong took over (& what SGP is doing now): i.e. just do enough of the professional circuit/World Tour every 4 years to qualify for the Olympics -- wanna guess why it took JPN 37 years to regain the Uber Cup? IOW, the TUC itself is not "respectable" enough for the ENG sports or Olympic council -- i.e. they've narrowed their funding/focus to only (getting a "respectable outcome" at) the Olympics...
yes, you're right. i neglected to mention the only thing badminton england cares about is olympic results. all of the other poorly funded member associations are run on the same 'only olympics matter' premise. the richer (asian) members can afford to care about everything.
Hmm.. If the money is big enough, i dont think it will be olympics that matter mentality anymore. If its as big as tennis but certainly the WorldTour is better now. Thats why individual achievements is much more worth it. Even if England won the UberCup, what will they get. They will get no money.