![Lin Dan is poised to take his second title of 2019 but word from the BWF is that he is not eligible from the points from the Gwangju Korea Masters […]](http://www.badzine.net/wp-content/uploads/ngg_featured/20191106_1347_FuzhouChinaOpen2019_BPYL8608.jpg "Gwangju final but no Guangzhou Finals for Lin Dan?")
Lin Dan is poised to take his second title of 2019 but word from the BWF is that he is not eligible from the points from the Gwangju Korea Masters that might otherwise have sent him to the World Tour Finals in Guangzhou.
The last article we published on the qualification race for the World Tour Finals (WTF) reflected the current understanding on the state of the men’s singles race. The numbers then said that if Wang Tzu Wei were stopped in the second round he could be caught by Lin Dan winning the tournament. Indeed with Wang having lost on Thursday to Lu Guangzu and with Lin Dan having won his semi-final today against compatriot Zhao Junpeng, all would suggest he were on the verge of qualifying for the big-money season finale.
Now, however, it appears that Lin Dan will be hampered by the limit on Super 300 events that is imposed on all Top Committed Players, by the BWF Player Commitment Regulation 2.8, which reads:
2.8. Top Committed Players are allowed to play a maximum of four Grade 2, Level 5 [Super 300] Tournaments unless BWF give a special exemption or provided that the Player participates in all Grade 2, Level 1-4 Tournaments. World Ranking Points will be deducted for participating in more than four Tournaments if the requirements of clause 2.8 are not met.
Lin Dan already has points from 5 Super 300 events and he missed two Super 500 tournaments in 2019, the Malaysia Masters and the India Open. Presumably, the BWF has given him the ‘special exemption’ mentioned above for the Australian Open, which the current Race to Guangzhou standings list as contributing 3850 points toward his WTF campaign.
Of course, the wording of Regulation 2.8 is quite vague. Not only is there no mention of the process or criteria for the requesting and/or granting of the ‘special exemption’, but there is also no mention of whether such an exemption could apply to a sixth or seventh Super 300 event, nor of how many points will actually be deducted.
The latest BWF report on Guangzhou qualification did not mention Lin Dan’s situation, but it did mention both the 5th event exemption and the ineligibility for Gwangju points in the case of Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying. Other players who have played more than 4 super 300 events this year include Michelle Li and Malaysian men’s doubles pair Goh/Tan, but these players were outside the Top Committed category in November last year. Awarding no points to Lin Dan for his Gwangju performance will result in Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei remaining the 8th player to qualify for the World Tour Finals.
Michelle Li’s situation got some attention on social media last week as her coach pointed out that at the time of the Korea Masters entry deadline, the BWF website had information that indicated WTF qualification would finish on November 12th. Li, currently #8 on the World Rankings, has played in 7 Super 300 tournaments this year. She will be passed in the Guangzhou standings on Tuesday by Busanan Ongbamrungphan, who competed in 5 Super 300s.
Photo: Yves Lacroix / Badmintonphoto
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Please, do respect the man and the legend. Have you no memory? Shame on you! Obviously. not only he deserves to get any exemption allowed but he should also be, in futuresm formerly invited as a wild card by BWF… as happens in many many sports. It is, primerly, a questions of respect all the GAOT´s out there that keep doing for their sport… Kelly Slater, 48 years old, 11 WC of surfing is ione of the examples.
As much as I am a fan of LD, I do not agree with that. That’s not how sports works; past glories cannot be used to give an unfair advantage to a player. However, in this case I do find the rules to be a bit ridiculous and while he hasn’t won enough points to qualify for the WTF, they should count towards his World Ranking and Olympic Qualification.
Please go and retire like Lee Xue Rui
Is he a ‘Top Committed Player’? He has been outside of the top 10 for a significant amount of time and out of the top 15 for a considerable period as well.
Yes. The rule is as follows: “2.1. Players occupying the top 15 places in Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles, and the top 10 places in Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles of the World Ranking as at the third week of November the year before the relevant BWF Sanctioned Tournaments (“Top Committed Players”) will be required to play in the following Tournaments occurring in the full Calendar year”. Lin Dan was ranked 13th in the world throughout November 2018.
Yes, I just checked. However, there is a gap between week 52 and week 1 of more than a week.
Neel Lin dan was ranked #189 before was chosen as a wild card to play in the 2013 WC which he won the title. He got ranking points result of that win as a very poorly ranked player
Thank you for attaching the additional regulation. But under the regulation why are the top 15 rankers play in Super 300 more than 4 times?
I’m not sure I understand the question. Do you mean why do they play more than 4? Or do you mean why are they not allowed to play more than 4?
To answer the first question, they do play more than 4 so that they can earn more ranking points toward either the Olympics or the World Tour Finals. Prior to 2018, this was irrelevant, since tournaments this small – Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold – didn’t help players qualify for the Superseries Finals. Only the 12 Superseries events counted. Unlike the world rankings, the qualification for the finals is not based only on a player’s top 10 tournament results, so playing 19 tournaments is much better than playing 14, while for the world rankings, the benefit is far less.
As for the second question, presumably, the BWF is trying to discourage top-ranked players from entering a lot of Super 300 events and skipping Super 500 events. Players might decide that winning a Super 300 (7000 points) is easier than reaching a Super 500 semi-final (6420 points). They are trying to force the players to play the highest-profile events by imposing a penalty on skipping them. They are still allowed to play an unlimited number of Super 300 tournaments, as long as they play all the Super 500, 750, and 1000 events. Lin Dan skipped the Malaysia Masters and the India Open, which Chan/Goh also missed, so that is why they were subjected to the penalty.