KOREA OPEN 2011 – Bigger show, bigger stage

The 2011 Victor Korea Open Premier Super Series is moving to a bigger home to host the world’s first million-dollar badminton event.

In 2007, when the Korea Open became a Super Series tournament, it moved from a smaller downtown location to the larger Fencing Gymnasium in Seoul’s Olympic Park, with 7,000 seats.  This coming January, however, the organizers have moved the event to Seoul’s largest indoor venue.

The Olympic Gymnastics Gymnasium is a 10,000-seat arena with additional, portable seating that takes its capacity up to 15,000.  The fencing gymnasium is actually undergoing renovations but the move is still a fitting one for the inaugural event of the BWF’s new Premier Super Series as Korea once again hosts the most lucrative badminton tournament in history, offering US$1.2 million in total prize money.   The Korea Open starts on January 25th, 2011.