Former world number two badminton player, Shi Yu Qi (main image), will play in next month’s World Championships, after initially being pulled out from the tournament by the Chinese Badminton Association.
Shi was suspended for a year by China after he retired from the 2020 Thomas Cup semifinal match against Japan’s Kento Momota, last October. The tournament was delayed a year by the Covid-19 pandemic.
China declined Shi’s entry during Phase One of the qualifiers for the World Championships, which will be held from Aug 21-28 in Tokyo, Japan.
According to Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) Regulations for eligibility and processing of entries for World Championships, Section 3.2.21 reads: “The member association shall confirm whether or not eligible players/pairs (Phase One) will enter, as stated in the date lines in Annexure 1. A player/pair who has declined in Phase One cannot be re-entered”.
Phase One entries to the World Championship are based on the world rankings on the last Thursday of April. This year, it fell on April 28.
BWF would then inform the member associations the following day, and they would have until the second Thursday of May to confirm the entries. This year, that was on May 12.
China has since lifted Shi’s suspension and requested that he take the place of former world and Olympic champion, Chen Long, in the World Championships.
Chen, who turned 33 in January, is ranked No. 6 in the world, while the 26-year-old Shi, is No. 17. BWF agreed to the request.
Datuk Kenny Goh, a BWF council member, said: “I have nothing against China or the player, but as a council member, I would like to know how BWF allowed Shi back into the World Championships.”
“I want to know if BWF followed its rules, did it follow all the procedures, and how it came to this decision.”
Goh, who is also the Badminton Association of Malaysia’s secretary-general, said he understands why BWF would want Shi to play in the World Champions, as “he is a big name”.
“I do not want to speculate any further. I hope the world body explains to its members how it reached the decision,” said Goh.
There are calls for Shi to be issued a wildcard — as awarded to Lin Dan and Chen Long in the 2013 and 2017 World Championships, respectively.
However, the cut-off for wildcard invitations was on May 6.
Lin, the two-time Olympic champion, had played too few tournaments in 2013. His world ranking dropped to 41, making him ineligible to play in the world meet.
However, BWF awarded him a wildcard. Lin went on to clinch his fifth world title by beating Malaysia’s Datuk Lee Chong Wei in the final.
In 2017, BWF also handed Chen a wildcard after he failed to qualify. The reason given then was that he was the reigning Olympic and world champion.
But two years earlier, BWF denied Lee a wildcard after he returned from an eight-month doping ban.
Twentytwo13 had reached out to BWF regarding the matter and is awaiting a response.
