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KUALA LUMPUR: The international badminton season gets
underway this week at the Malaysian Open with the sport dogged by
internal politics and a failure to hold the finale to its Super
Series last year.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF)
revamped its tour in 2007 to make a Super Series circuit, reducing
the seeds for major tournaments to eight and players in the main
draw to 32.
Previously there were 16 seeds
and 64 players.
They also altered the rules so
that players from the same country can be in the same half of the
draw, in an attempt to make the game more competitive, and it proved
a winning formula.
But the sport was thrown into
chaos when host Qatar failed to get enough sponsorship to underpin
the season-ending final and second choice Malaysia was ruled out as
an alternative.
It means the new season starts
this week without champions declared for last year.
“The Badminton World Federation
is actively seeking to find suitable dates and venue for the Super
Series Finals and will inform all parties concerned in due course.
Any inconvenience is regretted,” said a notice on its website.
An internal power struggle is
also undermining the sport with badminton’s world governing body
announcing last month it was seeking the removal of its president
early this year following months of infighting.
The BWF council said it would
recommend sacking Kang Yoong Jong after confirming a previous vote
of no confidence against him.
“Council members expressed
grave concerns about the president’s ability to provide effective
leadership of the BWF and settle the internal tensions to which he
was contributing,” it said in a statement after a meeting in Kuala
Lumpur.
Council members had an
“extended discussion” with Kang over the World Badminton
Foundation he established in 2007, which is not under the
jurisdiction of the BWF.
Kang claimed he was the victim of
a “coup d’etat” by his deputy Punch Gunalan after the vote of
no confidence in August. He said the power struggle threatened
badminton’s Olympic status.
Badminton’s governing body
relocated to Malaysia from its historical home in England in 2005
but since then senior officials have been at loggerheads.
--AFP
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