The Axiata Cup organisers defend poor turnout in group matches – Badminton News
The Axiata Cup organisers, Total Sports Asia (TSA) defended the low turnout in group matches and hoped that the event will draw big crowds in the semi-finals, starting from March 30, 2012.
The senior vice-president of TSA, James White believes that the richest team event of badminton history will be in full swing after much criticised slow start. He intends to provide more live coverage to attract the badminton lovers as a little more publicity
will result in more crowds.
White said, “I suppose we did not give the tournament enough publicity and it resulted in a poor turnout at first, but we saw the crowd picking up after each day.”
The million-dollar tournament came under severe criticism for their timings as it was staged right in middle of Thomas Cup and London Olympics preparations. There were also rumours about some coaches and players being uncomfortable with the schedule.
However, James White negates all the rumours and looked satisfied with the overwhelming response from the contestants.
He said, “We also thought the tournament could also be a part of the players’ preparations for the major competitions coming up. In fact, we received positive feedback from some teams.”
However, the TSA vice-president admitted that much more work is needed to make this tournament the most prestigious event at international level by attracting more shuttlers in future edition of Axiata Cup.
James White stated that there is possibility of a ladies event next year and he admitted that they have requested the Badminton World Federation to award ranking points for the Axiata Cup matches as well.
He said, “As there will be no Olympics or Thomas Cup events next year, we can plan it better. We’re also trying to work out something with the Badminton World Federation (BWF) where we can have ranking points for the matches.”
This year six countries of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand, took part in Axiata Cup and only hosting countries Malaysia and Indonesia are the survivors of the event which has now entered the semi-final stage.
The Malaysia Tigers, Malaysia Leopards, Indonesia Garuda and Indonesia Rajawali are contesting in the semi-final round which will be played on home-away basis in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.
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