Why is the All-England a 4* instead of a 5* event? Is it the prize money? Other tournaments with less illustrious history have 5* including Japan Open, Singapore Open, etc. The All-England should get enough sponsorship to be a 5* event. It is after all the most prestigious tournament after the world championships, the competition this year is extremely competitive, and all the major badminton countries have sent their top players. Ron
I fully agree. I think Baofe should make moe effort to raise the prize money. Also, organisers should try their level best to increase prize money by ~3% every year. This is not much, but it is a start.
I reckon it is probably down to how difficult it is to squeeze money out of the british government, lottery funding hasn't been around very long and there isn't really a lot of it. the BAofE probably needs some lessons in business - maybe they will start makig a bit of money to put back in. Yeah right ! see y'all Neil
Hi This is the prize money that i got in the programme for the winners of each event- Mens singles - $10,000 Womens Singles - $8, 625 Mens Doubles pair - $9,000 Womens Doubles Pair - $7,625 Mixed pair - $7,625 Not a lot really. Matt
prize money Compare the prize money for the recent UK snooker tournament, the Benson and Hedges masters. First Prize was something like £210,000 Runner up was £100,000 Looks like you'll do better in the UK as a snooker player than a badminton one ha!
That's becasue the money goes mainly to UK citizens...just like darts. If AE had a run of winners from UK, perhaps UK sponsors will sit up (bar tobacco companies)
But do we want Benson and Hedges to sponsor the All-England? Imagine badminton players the world over taking a deep draw from their B&H cigarette before hitting a shuttlecork. Imagine juggling a bird and cigarette in the non-preferred hand during serve and avoiding cigarette burns during a rally (as if avoiding getting hit by the shuttlecork is not bad enough ). No, badminton does not need Benson and Hedges as a sponsor. Ron
Matt, I'm sure it's more as there is still the runner-up, the semi's too. I believed that money prizes are awarded from the semi's upwards. Granted that it will not be as good as the other sports (tennis, etc). As for snooker, that is a big sport in the UK (also another gentleman sport - where else would you get a player owning up to a fault which was undetected but could cost him the match). I have not kept up with snooker since I left the UK in '87 but I think that there are more players from other countries on the pro-circuit now although the majority will be UK citizens.
Just look at the health service. Underpaid, overworked and exploited personnel who leave the service in droves. So many get disillusioned and leave a system that has now fallen into diarray.
Actually, with the failure of the British in traditional sports like tennis, football, cricket, isn't time for people to try their hand at something else.............
Well Benson and Hedges have sponsored their last tournament..due to the new laws. I did say that it was specific to UK. After attending the All England...as a spectator I can conclude that a local school competition would look as professional It DID lack the polish and feel of a large tournament. It deserved a 3* at most IMO Maybe they are saving it for the world championships, but it was definetly worse compared to the last couple of years. Does anyone know how much YY corp actually sponsor the All England? and how much they got paid by SKY?..and is willing to diverge??
