FOCUSING on quality over quantity could be a better way moving forward.
New Badminton Hall of Fame inductee Datuk Lee Chong Wei (pic) suggested that the Badminton World Federation (BWF) should take a leaf out of tennis’ book and reduce the number of tournaments in a calendar year.
“The schedule is crazy for badminton,” said former national men’s singles great Chong Wei.
“If you see, there is the Malaysian Masters now (May 23-28), then there is the Thailand Open (May 30-June 4), Singapore Open (June 6-11) and Indonesian Open (June 13-18).
“Of course the players will come out and participate in more tournaments as the qualifying period for the 2024 Paris Olympics has started.
“But the players are not robots and can get injured when playing in so many tournaments.
“It’s quantity over quality now and my suggestion is to try to follow tennis where there are four major tournaments a year.
“BWF can also have around five or six big tournaments a year and increase the prize money.”
Prior to the Malaysian Masters, most of the players had also competed in the SEA Games in Cambodia (May 8-16) and the Sudirman Cup in Suzhou (May 14-21).
The qualifying period for the Olympics started this month and will end at the end of April next year.
In both the men’s and women’s singles, players need to break into the top 16 to make the cut for the Paris showpiece.
In the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles, a country can have two pairs in the Olympics provided both are ranked in the top eight.
