Getting top 15 players to play in 12 meets a year may prove costly

KUALA LUMPUR: Is the Badmin­ton World Federation (BWF) ready to sacrifice quality for quantity?

That’s certainly food for thought for the world body after the Perodua Malaysian Masters saw three of its biggest names in the men’s singles – world No. 2 Lee Chong Wei and China’s Chen Long and Lin Dan - crash out in the first round on Wednesday.

World No. 5 Son Wan-ho of South Korea and world No. 7 Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan also bit the dust at the Axiata Arena.

Reigning world champion and world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark nearly joined the big-name casualty list but survived to fight for another day after a win over South Korean veteran Lee Hyun-il 18-21, 21-14, 21-5.

Three-time Olympic silver medallist Chong Wei, who has been critical of BWF’s new rule requiring the top 15 singles players to commit to at least 12 tournaments a year, didn’t back down on his stand.

“January to February is usually the time that we use to prepare for the All-England in March.

“There are also league competitions and I believe all the top players are not fully prepared for a tight schedule like this,” said Chong Wei.

“There hasn’t been any feedback from the BWF (on an appeal to relax the rule) so there’s no choice for us but to play.

“I doubt that they’ll review the rules though. If they were to review them, they would have done so already.

“I’ll have to discuss with the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to see what we can do going forward. We might just pay the fine if it comes down to that.

The BWF has implemented a fine of US$5,000 (RM19,800) per event.

“I’m not 25 anymore. There is the Com­mon­wealth and Asian Games this year. There is the Thomas Cup too. These are my majors this year, so I’ve to plan wisely,” he added.

The 24-year-old Axelsen also echoed the same sentiment and took a swipe at the BWF.

“There are too many tournaments in the current schedule. It’ll be strenuous for the players and and I’m sure the fans would want to see us play for many more years.

“We’ll be injury prone if we’ve to play in 18-20 tournaments a year.

“I would rather have fewer tournaments a year. It would be better to have less tournaments but of a higher quality than having 12 tournaments a year.

The Dane has also branded the BWF’s decision to introduce a new service rule starting from the All-England in March ridiculous.

The new service rule states that the whole shuttle shall be below 1.15m from the surface of the court at the moment it touches the server’s racquet. Previously, it was fixed at 1.1m.

“It’s ridiculous as far as I’m concerned. The All-England is one of the most prestigious tournaments and I really can’t believe they’re starting a new rule there,” said Axelsen.