TUC ASIA 2012 – Park Joo Bong not happy

Japan’s Head Coach Park Joo Bong (photo) has made it official that he was not happy with the world governing body’s decision to allow China to play in the Thomas Cup qualifying rounds. The Korean legend, who was once the head coach for Malaysia, told the New Straits Times that this change of rule and the number of points given at this preliminary stages might hurt the sport.

“I don’t understand why BWF is offering so many points for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup qualifying rounds. It doesn’t make sense for the China to play in the qualifying rounds after  they have secured automatic berths for the two events as hosts. The points offered are too high for a qualifying round and win or lose, a player or a doubles pair will earn 10 per cent of their total world ranking points. BWF must have a clear qualification guidance and tighten its rules and regulations. China always have their way and BWF has failed to control them.”

Previously, the teams which had hosted the event – in this case China men’s squad and Korea’s women’s squad, which won in 2010 – did not have to go through qualifying rounds. Also, the hosts – in this case China in both events – did not have to go through qualification either. Because of the Olympic qualifying points at stake and in order to give a fair chance to everyone, the BWF had decided to change the rule and allow the hosts to compete in Macau, while the winners of the Uber Cup, Korea, will not get to participate in the event.

Whether he wins or loses, Chen Jin will benefit from an added points equivalent to the average of his points on the best 10 tournaments of the year. which is around 6800 points. This means Chen would add another 1800 point to his average points and hence get closer to Gade’s convoited 4th spot – the rank he needs to get to in order to qualify for the Games. Gade will not benefit from the extra points as he chose to not participate in the European stage.

The Korean Olympic Champion did not mention about Korea’s Uber Cup players, which will be penalized by this amended rule. The impact may not be as important in the singles as both Bae and Sung are within the top 16 already, but it could mean that Kim Ha Na and Jung Kyung Eun, who were the first team outside the top 8 in Badzine’s latest Olympic dummy list, might miss some crucial points when the deadline of May 3rd comes.