Author: MD

Link to the event

Who is stopping Viktor?

This Monday marks the start of this year's Badminton World Championships in the Japanese capital Tokyo. The top stars are competing in all disciplines. In the men's singles, Viktor Axelsen (World Champion 2017) and Kento Momota (World Champion 2018 and 2019) are seeded at positions 1 and 2. Will it really come to the hoped-for final - or will there be another big surprise like a year ago when the outsider Loh Kean Yew from Singapore won?

In the women's singles, defending champion Akane Yamaguchi (JAP) is seeded first and Taiwan's Tai Tzu Ying second. Europe's hopes rest on the shoulders of Spain's Carolina Marin. Does she have a chance of winning her fourth World Cup title?

It is the first time since the outbreak of the worldwide Corona pandemic that all the stars will be represented at a tournament. Whether many foreign fans will be there is an open question, as entry regulations for tourists are very difficult. 

From Switzerland, only the women's doubles Aline Müller/Jenjira Stadelmann had qualified for the World Championships through their ranking position. Swiss Badminton, however, refrained from entering them because Jenjira wants to concentrate on the singles discipline in future. Aline Müller will form the new national doubles team with Caroline Racloz.

The matches are live on badmintonworld.tv only in Switzerland

Here are the results: https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/tournament/9BC6D676-3D48-4551-BF0A-2631BE8105A1/matches

Good news for all badminton fans from the border triangle and not only from there: the badminton world elite is coming to Basel again.

Two years ago the tournament fell victim to the Corona pandemic and last year it had to do without spectators - but this year things are looking good again for fans of the world's fastest racket sport.

The tournament will take place from 22 to 27 March at the St.Jakobshalle in Basel - the same venue where the World Championship was held in 2019.

This year there are a few changes compared to the years before Corona.

Point One concerns the tickets. They are only available exclusively at Ticketcorner.ch - either online or at the advance booking offices. The prices are staggered according to tournament days:

Tuesday/Wednesday: 25.- francs/ 15.- francs for all under 25s

Thursday/Friday: 35.- Swiss francs/ 20.- Swiss francs for all under 25s

Saturday/Sunday: 45 francs/ 25 francs for all under 25s

Due to the Corona, only 600 tickets are currently available per tournament day at Ticketcorner. In addition, 200 supporter tickets are available per day (for more information, visit www. swissopen.com).

It therefore applies first come – first serve. But all without risk. If the event is cancelled (e.g. because there is a new Corona variant), the sales price will be refunded.

Point Two is the date of the tournament. After the German Open and the All England, the Swiss Open is again the third tournament in March sponsored by the traditional Japanese company YONEX. For the top cracks from Asia, the journey to Europe is therefore worthwhile. The players want competition (training is boring all the time) and the BWF is happy that top-class tournaments are being organised in Europe again.

The chances are therefore very good that the world's best cracks will be at the start.

Already today, there is an entry of more than 30 players from China - among them various Olympic champions from Tokyo. And the world number 1, Viktor Axelsen from Denmark, has already verbally confirmed his participation.

Don't hesitate when buying tickets! Those who come too late will not only miss the smash by Viktor....

See you soon in Basel!

After the team events of the past three weeks, the individual tournaments continue. This week, in the Danish city of Odense, the Denmark OpenThe USD 850,000 tournament will have a big clash this Friday evening: All England winner Lee Zii Jia (MAS) against Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen (DEN). This is the revenge from last March at the All England.The matches can be seen live on badmintonworld.tv only in Switzerland

All results are available here:

https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament/matches?id=AE1C21D1-1201-498C-A539-23667E7DC959&d=

Since last weekend, after a one-year delay, the final round of the Thomas und Uber-Cup statt. Das Turnier musste wegen der Corona-Pandemie zweimal verschoben werden. Die Mannschafts-WM für Herren- bzw. Damenteams hat eine lange Tradition (es gibt sie seit 1948 bzw. 1956) und sie findet erstmals seit 1982 wieder in Europa statt. Austragungsort ist die dänische Stadt Aarhus.

A team competition consists of three singles matches and two doubles matches.
The defending champions in the men's competition are China, in the women's competition the team from Japan. 
The tournament will be played in four groups of four followed by a knockout system. 
The Swiss men's team lost to Denmark, the 2016 Thomas Cup winners, at the qualifying tournament in France in February 2020.
Info at: https://bwfthomasubercups.bwfbadminton.com
The games are live on badmintonworld.tv only in Switzerland

Thomas Cup:
Group A: Indonesia, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Algeria 
Group B: Denmark, Korea, Germany, France
Group C: China, India, Netherlands,Tahiti
Group D: Japan, Malaysia, England, Canada

Uber Cup:
Group A: Japan, Indonesia, Germany, France
Group B: Thailand, India, Spain, Scotland
Group C: Korea, Chinese Taipei, Egypt, Tahiti
Group D: China, Denmark, Malaysia, Canada

This Sunday marks the start of the TotalEnergies BWFSudirman-Cup - the Mixed Team World Championship. The venue is the city of Vantaa in Finland.

The tournament is named after Dick Sudirman, the former president of the Indonesian Badminton Association, who donated the trophy in 1988. The first time it was held a year later, it was won by Indonesia - after that, the tournament title went to China eleven times and South Korea four times.

A match consists of five matches, one men's singles and one women's singles as well as one men's doubles, one women's doubles and one mixed doubles.
A total of 16 nations will compete in four groups of four. The two best teams in each group qualify for the 1/4 finals.

The Swiss team failed to qualify for the Sudirman Cup at the European qualifying tournament in Belgium in December 2020.

The tournament is live on badmintonworld.tv only in Switzerland

Although our sport was already presented as a possible Olympic sport in 1972 at the Olympic Games in Munich, it took another 20 years before it was ready. At the premiere in Barcelona in 1992, Silvia Albrecht and Bettina Villars were the Swiss representatives. Four years later, Thomas Wapp and Santi Wibowo each qualified for the tournament in the singles. At the same time, they received the right to start in the mixed tournament, which was held for the first time.

In 2000 and 2004, no Swiss player qualified for the Olympic badminton tournament. In 2008, the two multiple Swiss champions Christian Bösiger and Jeanine Cicognini managed to qualify. In the following years, only Sabrina Jaquet managed to clear this hurdle.

While Silvia Albrecht, Thomas Wapp, Santi Wibowo and Jeanine Cicognini each won a match, Sabrina is still waiting for a successful result. She is now competing in the Olympic badminton tournament for the third time and has a certain routine. Let's hope that she can prepare for the season's highlight without any injuries and that she will deliver a top performance in Tokyo. 

The draw of the badminton tournament brought the following result for Sabrina Jaquet (BWF 46): She will meet Tai Tzu Ying (BWF No. 1 from Taiwan), Vietnamese Thuy Linh Nguyen (BWF 49) and French Qi Xuefei (BWF 41). Only the top of the group qualifies for the knockout round.

Previous Swiss players at the Olympic Games

1992: Singles: Silvia Albrecht/ Doubles: Silvia Albecht/Bettina Villars

1996: Singles: Thomas Wapp and Santi Wibowo and both together in the Mixed

2000: no participation

2004: no participation

2008: Singles: Christian Bösiger and Jeanine Cicognini

2012: Singles: Sabrina Jaquet 

2016: Singles: Sabrina Jaquet 

2020: Singles: Sabrina Jaquet