THE Thomas and Uber Cups were held in Chengdu, China and concluded on May 5. China emerged as champions in both categories.
The Thomas Cup was exciting and thrilling as many countries had an equal chance of winning the coveted trophy.
However, holding the Uber Cup at the same time and same venue as the Thomas Cup diminishes the importance and excitement of the Uber Cup.
Most people simply ignore the Uber Cup as being of no significance even though women’s badminton is equally exciting and competitive.
The preparations for the Uber Cup are given much significance by many countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Denmark as in the opinion of these countries it is almost equal to winning the Thomas Cup.
The achievements of the women shuttlers are equally lauded and comparable to those of their male counterparts.
If the Uber Cup were held separately more attention and focus will be given to women’s badminton and more advertisers and sponsors will come forward to contributing to the event.
Only the Thomas and Uber cups are held concurrently. Football, hockey cricket and other sports hold their world cups for women separately and even in separate venues and countries.
It is not surprising that when women’s championships are held separately, they draw much media attention and excitement.
Assuming that the World Cup for women’s soccer was held concurrently, would women’s soccer have attained such prominence as it has been in the last few women’s soccer World Cups?
Women’s soccer has improved by leaps and bounds and now gets global media attention.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is making a mistake by holding both championships at the same time and this overshadows the prospects for women’s badminton recognition and improvement.
The BWF in order to popularise badminton further can look into hosting a Badminton Continental Cup where the best of Asian and European men and women badminton players can contest in support of their respective continents.
In such a combined setting Europe could have a better chance of giving Asians a good fight. Countries such as Denmark, England, Spain, Germany and others could participate on the European side. – May 16, 2024
V. Thomas is a Focus Malaysia viewer.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main pic credit: BWF