KUALA LUMPUR: World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei stands a chance to win US$80,000 (RM260,129) – the biggest purse for a single badminton player – at the BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals in Dubai from Dec 17-21.
On Wednesday, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced that the total prize money for this year’s edition will be increased from US$500,000 (RM1.63mil) to US$1mil (RM3.25mil) thanks to their new partnership with the Dubai Sports Council.
In fact, the World Superseries Finals will be staged in Dubai for the next four years.
The women’s singles champion will also take home US$80,000 while the doubles winners will share the US$84,000 (RM273,223).
The Finals will feature the top eight players in every event based on the Superseries rankings after the completion of 12 legs. The players have so far completed eight legs.
Unfortunately,Chong Wei is the only Malaysian in the running to qualify for the Finals.
The 31-year-old Chong Wei leads the men’s singles ranking after winning four Superseries titles – the Malaysian Open (Jan), All-England (March), India Open (April) and Japan Open (June).
The others in the top eight are his new nemesis Chen Long of China; Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen and Hans-Kristian Vittinghus; Japan’s Kenichi Tago and Kento Momota; Son Wan-ho of South Korea; and Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto.
Malaysia can forget about the men’s doubles, though.
With changes to their doubles line-ups, it will be difficult for the new pairings to make the top eight with just four legs to go – unless of course if they can win all four.
The four remaining stops in the Superseries Tour are the Denmark Open (Oct 14-19), French Open (Oct 21-16), China Open (Nov 11-16) and the Hong Kong Open (Nov 18-23).
Chong Wei will take part in the Denmark and China Opens because it is compulsory for all the top 10 players in the world to compete in the Superseries Premier events.
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