Badminton World Federation likely to revise Olympic qualifying format – Badminton News
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is toying with the idea to modify Olympic qualification criterion to end the manipulation of some countries.
BWF came under fire for its inability to deal with China who always exploits its position in badminton world to maximise their chances of glory in every edition of the Olympics.
China manipulated BWF rules in the past by forcing its prime shuttler Lin Dan to concede walk over against Chen Long in China Open Super Series to help lower ranked shuttler in climbing up in world ranking and now Chen Long sits at third position.
Now in recently concluded Badminton Asia Championships the World Number two Lin Dan quit against Chen Jin citing back injury. It was said that this suspicious walkover was just to ensure Chen Jin’s spot in the 2012 London Olympics.
However, deputy president of BWF Paisan Rangsikitpho talked down the chances of match fixing but he admitted that it calls for some amendments in current Olympic qualifying format.
He said, “There is no concrete evidence of match fixing but I can say that the current format may have to go as it is open to abuse. The one-year Olympic qualification period has to change.”
China has already booked two as its players Lin Dan and Chen Long as they hold the second and third position respectively.
Meanwhile, the World Number five Chen Jin was looking to climb up to one rung to win third spot for country and his recent title, which he easily won due to Lin Dan’s controversial walkover, has virtually fetched an Olympic ticket for him.
BWF deputy president stated that this may harm the true spirit of the game and there should be fair play everywhere in the badminton world.
Rangsikitpho said, “All the speculation right now is not good for the world body or the game. There shouldn’t be any room for players to beat the system. We have to be fair to all.”
However, he did not disclose that in what direction they are going to take steps to ensure a fair qualifying system but probably BWF is thinking to introduce a simple and straight qualification merit for future editions of the Olympics.
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