The Thomas and Uber Cups were held in Chengdu, China and concluded on May 5th. China emerged champions in both categories. The Thomas Cup was exciting and thrilling as a few countries had a good 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. Many may not give as much attention to the Uber Cup, even though women's badminton is equally exciting and competitive.
The preparations for the Uber Cup are given a lot of significance by many countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Denmark and Malaysia too. For us and these countries, its worth is almost like winning the Thomas Cup.
For the Uber Cup winner, the achievements of women shuttlers are equally lauded and comparable to those of their male counterparts.
If the Uber Cup were held separately, more attention and focus would be given to women's badminton and more advertisers and sponsors would come forward to contribute to the event.
Football, hockey, cricket and other sports hold their world cups for women. Thus, it is not surprising that when women's championships are held separately they draw a lot of 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 popularize badminton further, could look into hosting a Badminton Continental Cup where the best Asian and European men's and women's 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. Denmark, England, Spain, Germany and others could participate on the European side.
V. Thomas
Sg Buloh, Selangor