Tournament Schedule Is Too Busy, BWF Criticized By Badminton World

Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - The Badminton World Federation (BWF) received criticism from a number of world badminton players who were involved in the tournament being held. The criticism was related to the busy schedule made by BWF which inevitably had an impact on the condition of the participants.

This situation was also strengthened by the fact that more badminton players had fallen or withdrew from three consecutive tournaments held in Bali, including the 2021 World Tour Finals (WTF).

One of the protests about the tight schedule of the tournament was conveyed by former Danish badminton player Mathias Boe via the Twitter account @mathiasboe.

In an upload, last December 2, Boe even linked a screenshot of the men's singles group stage of the BWF World Tour Finals 2021 which shows the match schedule when Kento Momota and Rasmus Gemke decided to withdraw in the middle of the match.

"What was supposed to be a badminton party for the fans ended up like a joke," Boe tweeted.

“BWF, what do you get out of demanding players compete in tournaments that are held for three months in a row? Do you care about the condition of the players? No." he said in the same post.

Prior to the holding of three consecutive tournament agendas in Bali, a number of world elite badminton players had already undergone seven tournaments since the Sudirman Cup last October. This condition has never happened before throughout the badminton championship.

So far, there have been eight cases of players or partners who withdrew and six cases of walkovers across three tournaments in Bali. They are Lee Zii Jia (Malaysia), Kento Momota (Japan), Anders Antonsen (Denmark), Shesar Hiren Rhustavito (Indonesia), Rasmus Gemke (Denmark), and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (India).

Meanwhile, quoted from Antara, Indonesian men's doubles Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon also complained about similar conditions. They admit that the super-packed tournament schedule is indeed exhausting and drains their energy and mind on the field.