Lei Mingji
The 2014 Macau Open Badminton (MOB) competition will take place between November 25 and 30 at Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion. Organized by the Badminton Federation of Macau (BFM), the tournament is part of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Grand Prix Gold Series. During a BFM press conference yesterday, Lei Mingji, the consultant of the federation and the MOB organizing committee, declared that many of the players in the 2014 MOB will become the future stars of the badminton world.
Mr Lei said that there are several highlights in this year’s tournament. One of them is the increase in the number of participants, which currently stands at 341 athletes and 100 officials. “Compared to last year, [the total number of participating players] has increased by 10 percent,” he said.
“The number of participating countries [this year]… is 22, four more than last year’s 18. However, what I think people should pay attention to is that the four new countries are all European countries: Poland, Italy, Netherlands and Germany,” he said.
“When we first organized the tournament, we thought that it is less likely for European players to take part in MOB. I think having [the new European countries] is a great highlight. This shows the influence of MOB in these countries, that the tournament has finally attracted the attention of European athletes after years of hard work by the Macau Sport Development Board (ID) and BFM,” Mr Lei added.
Moreover, Lei Mingji suggested that the level of competition this year is high, despite the fact that some prominent mainland badminton players will not take part in the tournament. “There is one thing I want the media to pay attention to: among those female [badminton] athletes who ranked top 20 in the world, ten of them have signed up [for MOB 2014]”, he stated. Some of the athletes Mr Lei mentioned included Saina Nehwal from India, who is currently ranked fifth in the world and Carolina Marin from Spain, ranked eighth. The Spaniard became the most recent badminton star on August 31 after defeating Li Xuerui from China in the BWF World Championships women’s singles final in Denmark. She is also the European Champion.
Mr Lei pointed out that many of the players who are joining this year’s Macau Open are in their late teens or early twenties. “This means that they will be replacing those experienced players who are currently the most renowned. Therefore, in this year’s MOB, we will be able to see those who will dominate the badminton world in two to three years,” he said.
Lei Mingji later spoke to the Times on the sidelines and said that MOB, currently in its ninth year, has achieved a lot in promoting the sport and elevating Macau’s position in BWF.
He also observed that Macau badminton players, especially the younger players, have become increasingly competitive in recent years and are able to pose a threat to their international opponents. This is despite the fact that the training in Macau is, as Mr Lei described, “more amateur than amateur”.
More local schools are requesting BFM to assist them and send coaches for their students as well. This, Mr Lei said, identifies the increasing popularity of the sport in Macau.
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