Tougher to make main draw
News 8:52 AM
PETALING JAYA: It will be tougher for the lower ranked players to make it to the main draw of the Super Series tournament from September onwards as the Badminton World Federation (BWF) have announced that they will restrict the qualifying draws from the current 32 to 16.
BWF sports committee chairman Anne Smillie said: “We have found that the qualifying has become too big, almost a tournament in itself. It puts too big a strain on the qualifiers to come through three or four qualifying matches in one day and then be expected to perform in the first round proper the following day. It is just not realistic.”
The Super Series is a 12-tournament series designed to attract the top 32 players from around the world with a minimum of US$200,000 prize money up for grabs in each tournament.
The Super Series meets from September are in Japan, China, Denmark, France and Hong Kong.
It has also been decided that there should be at least eight BWF umpires invited to officiate at each Super Series from next year.
BWF have also decided to award the hosting of the World Junior Championships this year to the city of Pune, India. It is tentatively scheduled from Oct 24-Nov 2.
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 8:52 AM.
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