Fair Play and Sportsmanship in Badminton today

Amusing are the number of articles from what are possibly nagging little old ladies bitching about fair play and shportsmanship in badminton today, particularly about withdrawals.But there are two sides of the coin, many fixtures are "fixed" to ensure finalists are not of the same nation, they want teammates to bludgeon each other to death and then finally be put to the sword by rivals.Better still they want teammates to to aggravate each others' injuries so as to put them put each other out of future tournaments.And yet they still complain when teammates meet in finals saying its not entertaining and still curse if the match is abandoned!And if the match is not played competitively they want an explanation! Illogical, well no.

Now all these bitching boils down to what is called in this part of the world "Affirmative Action", strong parties are subject to handicaps to ensure they are not too successful, and sometimes even continue to be implemented for decades after the field has more than leveled!

Many forget that S Series are not the Olympics, played once in 4 years and in an Olympic spirit.Badminton players carry injuries all the time from rigorous training,and could be out if injuries are aggravated as has happened frequently.Players have to meet their quota of tournaments played and accumulate points to qualify for the Olympics.So players will always try to avoid injuries,in fact the most successful players are those who avoid injury and really target the important tournaments.Professionals will be professionals just as in Football or Basketball or Ice Hockey and need to look after their career.Injure themselves just to please the mean fans who in all probability are from the enemy camp? I wasn't born yesterday!

Indonesia has ignored all the NEGATIVES and focused on the POSITIVES, they engage the best coaches to revive their badminton,so has Japan.Bet you all the bleating about bad sportsmanship are from 2 bit nations and fans who know very little about competitive badminton.

As for team spirit and orders, it sometimes does happen with key players, in LD's case he has been instrumental in allowing juniors to replace him, affirmative action if you like , there is continuity and succession in Team China. Just look at the pathetic state in other teams other than Denmark, bitching and blaming but relying on the same old warhorses and not allowing juniors to rise up the ranks.Only the really naive will doubt that any team with such depth will have team orders, and it has been practised in the past by Indonesia for eg.in the 70s and 80s.

Well how about this, to further promote fair play and sportsmanship in badminton I propose the following affirmative actions :

1) In Mixed Doubles never target hard shots at the lady, that is unsporting and ungentlemanly
2) Give your opponent time to recover and catch his breath so that he can play you fairly
3) Do not exploit your opponents weakness when you notice he is carrying an injury, that
would not be fair.
4) Give your opponent encouragement and console him when he is mentally weak, that would be
really affirmative.
5) Tell off the umpire and linesman when they unfairly give a bad call to you!
6) In Doubles never pin down the weaker opponent, give them both equal opportunity!

My that is sportsmanship and must be good for badminton (for some that is).And to cap it all
if you swallow all these do the next best thing, be affirmative : GIVE ME ALL YOUR
MONEY,BROTHER,MAKE ME RICH!