Please be fair to us
Shevon believes BWF should scrap eligibility ruling for Tour Finals
National shuttlers Shevon Lai Jemie and Lai Pei Jing are praying hard for the Badminton World Federation (BWF) to have a change of heart over the eligibility ruling for the World Tour Finals in Bangkok from Jan 27-31.
As it stands, only players who feature in both the European and Asian legs of the World Tour are eligible for the Tour Finals.
Initially there were supposed to be two events in Europe – the Denmark Open (Oct 13-18) and Denmark Masters (Oct 20-25) – but the latter had since being called off alongside the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals (Oct 3-11)
I surely hope BWF will remove it (the ruling). It’s not as if we’re missing the European leg on purpose.
Shevon Lai Jemie
due to a spate of withdrawals from top Asian teams because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Malaysia did not pull out from the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals but decided against travelling to Denmark just for one event.
BWF had since also rescheduled the three Asian legs comprising two Open meets and the Tour Finals in November to January, but made no mention about changes to the eligibility ruling.
The Tour Finals will feature only the top-eight ranked players in every event after the completion of the Asia Open 1 (Jan 12-17) and Asia Open 2 (Jan 19-24).
If the ruling stays, then mixed doubles pairs Shevon and Goh Soon Huat, Pei Jing and Tan Kian Meng, will lose their eligibility although they are currently on course to qualify in sixth and seventh place respectively.
The same goes to Lee Zii Jia (fifth) in the men’s singles and Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (third) and Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (fourth) in the men’s doubles.
On top of that, the Tour Finals is set to lose its shine in the absence of Indonesian and Chinese stars, who’re all not playing in Denmark.
Shevon believes BWF should scrap the “unfair” ruling.
“I surely hope BWF will remove it (the ruling). It’s not as if we’re missing the European leg on purpose,” lamented Shevon.
“I find it quite unfair for the players. By right, it should be entirely up to the players to go or not because it concerns our health.
“The coronavirus can cause a huge impact on our career if we are unlucky.
“But let’s keep our fingers crossed. I still think BWF are trying to sort things out in the best way possible.”
Pei Jing said she’s looking forward to playing in all three tournaments in Thailand instead of just two.
“If BWF change their mind, then I’ll be very excited,” said Pei Jing.
“We’re currently in the top eight, so there’s every chance for us to fight for a place in the Tour Finals.
“After months without any tournament, surely we would love to play in as many tournaments as possible. The more, the better it is as we’re preparing for the return of Olympics qualification resumption next year.”
The US$1.5mil (RM6.23mil) Tour Finals offers a whopping US$120,000 (RM503,000) and US$126,000 (RM529,000) for the singles and doubles winners respectively.