Teams welcome quarter-final redraw changes

associations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) have welcomed the minor tweak to the redraw of the quarter-finals at the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Bangkok.

The redraw, which was introduced by the world body after the 2012 London Olympic Games will no longer pit countries from the same group in the last-eight stage.

Malaysia’s Thomas Cup team manager Datuk Ng Chin Chai said it was a good move by BWF to change the ruling as many countries including Malaysia had expressed their grouses over it.

“It just didn’t feel right. Imagine playing your last group match that drags past midnight. Then at the draw, you find out that you will have to face the same team again in the quarter-finals later at 2pm, that is just bad.

“And we are not the only ones, many other countries had also raised this, so it is good that we will not be facing the same team from our group in the quarter-finals.

“If you ask me, I wouldn’t want to face Denmark again in the quarter-finals,” said Chin Chai.

On a separate note, Chin Chai also urged BWF to consider extending the tournament to promote fairness and gender equality.

Currently, there is a one-day break between the semi-finals and the final of the Thomas Cup but none for the Uber Cup.

“I guess they can consider prolonging the tournament for another day or something. In that way, there is fairness,” Chin Chai added.