KUALA LUMPUR: Former national shuttler Datuk James Selvaraj feels that current players should play once in two weeks amidst the densely packed schedule in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) calendar year.
Expressing concern about the relentless pressure that comes with playing in a series of tournaments at the moment, James said such a balanced approach would help preserve freshness and, more significantly, minimise injuries among players.
“You cannot play tournament after tournament all the time. When are all these players going to rest? I think they (BWF) should cut down the number of tournaments,” he said when met recently.
As such, James, a member of the 1976 Thomas Cup silver medal-winning team, advised players to be strategic in choosing the tournaments that would align with their progress.
The 73-year-old believes that if all the players, including the top-ranked shuttlers, exercise discernment in tournament selection, it could prompt the BWF to re-evaluate the value of an overly saturated calendar.
Describing the current calendar year as crazy, former badminton great Datuk Lee Chong Wei suggested in May that the BWF should reduce the number of tournaments to produce quality players.
However, BWF president Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen quickly rebuffed the idea, saying what they needed to do was to create a tournament system like a “ladder” by rearranging all competitions according to priority. – BERNAMA
