KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — National badminton legend Datuk Lee Chong Wei suggested the number of tournaments organised by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in the future should focus on quality with more lucrative prizes, rather than quantity.
Lee, who was inducted into BWF Badminton Hall of Fame, believes the schedule of the tournaments organised by the world badminton body is currently so tight that it has a negative effect on the performance of players around the world.
He said the proposal ought to be given due consideration by BWF if it wants to produce quality and high-performing players as in tennis.
“Some possible changes they (BWF) could make in future may include changing the match point format, the system or increase the amount of prize money.
“Perhaps also reduce the number of tournaments in a year by focusing on higher quality tournaments, for example tennis which has six major tournaments. This is because I think the current badminton calendar is very ‘crazy’, it just go on continuously,” Lee said.
He was speaking to reporters earlier today, on the subject of what BWF needs to do if it wants to produce quality players like Lin Dan and himself.
According to Lee, the withdrawal of world number one Viktor Axelsen from the Malaysian Masters tournament was because he has not recover from a hamstring injury at the recent Sudirman Cup and the country’s professional men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia, who lost the second round of the Malaysian Masters due to poor health, should also be used as a warning to BWF.
Yesterday, Lee and Lin Dan were inducted into the BWF Badminton Hall of Fame for their success and contribution to the world of badminton by emerging as the most dominant men’s singles players during their heyday.
The dominance of both players in the badminton arena saw them compete against each other in five finals at the Olympic Games and 10 World Championships.
— Bernama
