Lingshui, Hainan, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- With the strong Xiamen special house team finally reaching the top, the 2023 Chinese Badminton Club Super League ended in Lingshui, Hainan on the evening of the 21st after ten days of competition. Sun Peng, director of the second competition department of the Chinese Badminton Association, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that the competition presented many highlights and made a good start for the recovery of badminton events.
Higher popularity
This is the first high-level national event held by the Chinese Badminton Association this year, and it is also the rekindling of the badminton Super League since 2020. Sun Peng introduced that the preparation time of the competition was very short, and it was only decided to be held before the Spring Festival. Since the national players have already trained at the Lingshui Training Base to prepare for subsequent international competitions, in order to create more convenient conditions for the national team, the league is set to be held in Lingshui.
Many locals attended the event, and there was endless applause and cheers in the finals. Sun Peng believes that this is a highlight of this year's league, "the overall number of spectators is relatively large, the on-site atmosphere is better, and the ticket revenue is also more than in previous editions." After the final, Zheng Siwei of the Xiamen special room team also said: "The atmosphere at the scene is very good, I haven't felt such an atmosphere for a long time. If every game can be like this, it is what we athletes really want to see. ”
At the same time, from the regular season to the finals, this league has achieved full coverage of live broadcasts. "Because the level of the event is relatively high, and the club has introduced foreign aid, it has also received a relatively good response among the national fan base, which has made a good start for the recovery of badminton events." Sun Peng said.
More fun
If not in the Badminton Super League, you will hardly see these "limited combinations": women's doubles world champion Chen Qingchen and mixed doubles world champion Zheng Siwei partner mixed doubles, women's singles players He Bingjiao and Wang Zhiyi try women's doubles, Li Junhui and Indonesia's Ashan join hands in men's doubles... These usually rare scenes add to the spectacle of the game, and fans love to see it.
But it's a challenge for athletes and even their opponents, with women's doubles player Zheng Yu, who faced He Bingjiao / Liu Xuanxuan across the net in the semifinals, saying: "The women's singles player plays more openly, you don't know which shot she will play some unconventional balls." A bit uncomfortable and caused us some difficulties. But the fixed partner was still a good guy, and that victory ended up going to world number three Zheng Yu/Zhang Shuxian.
He Bingjiao/Liu Xuanxuan
In addition, this year's league follows the format of 11 points per game of the previous edition, with three wins of five games per game, and the pace of the game is not delayed. Sun Peng introduced that the 11-point system can effectively shorten the overall duration of the competition, which not only meets the needs of TV broadcasting, but also exercises the ability of athletes to quickly enter the game state.
"The points system of the Badminton Super League has been constantly changing, we have tried a variety of things before, and then considering factors such as the market and the intensity of the game, we feel that the 11-point system is relatively appropriate. As far as athletes are concerned, some are slow-hot and may need to be used to; Some can get into the state quickly, and they are very welcome to this change; Especially for older athletes, it will save more energy. Sun Peng said.
More to look forward to
Before the pandemic, the Badminton Super League adopted a home-and-away system; The last edition of the Badminton Super League was held in Chengdu in 2020, and adopted the format of double round-robin tournament and finals; This time, considering that the national team was about to travel abroad, the league schedule was further shortened and changed to a single round-robin plus final.
With next year's Paris Olympics, the more important task for national team athletes is to compete in high-level international competitions to fight for Olympic points. Looking forward to the next tournament, Sun Peng said that the Chinese Badminton Association will communicate closely with the national team, fully communicate with various clubs, and formulate a more appropriate format and schedule, so that fans can have more expectations for the next matches.
"Once the international schedule is set, we will have more space to plan the next season's Badminton Super League. The possibility of reverting to the home-and-away system is also not excluded. He said.
Source: Xinhuanet