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Axiata Cup organisers agree meet got off to a slow start

PETALING JAYA: The Axiata Cup organisers, Total Sports Asia (TSA), admitted that the tournament got off to a slow start but they believe it will only get better.

The US$1mil tourney, the richest badminton team event in the world, drew much flak due to a rather poor crowd turnout.

Some national coaches were also not happy with the dates of the competition as they claim it interfered with the Thomas Cup and Olympic preparations.

TSA senior vice-president James White, however, insists the tournament will go on to become one of the world’s most prestigious.

“I suppose we did not give the tournament enough publicity and it resulted in a poor turnout at first,” said White.
“It takes a while for people to be aware of it but we saw the crowd picking up after each day. As for the timing, we wanted to provide more live coverage for those who could not attend the event.

“We also thought the tournament could also be a part of the players’ preparations for the major competitions coming up. In fact, we received positive feedback from some teams.”

White admitted that the Axiata Cup had room for improvement and efforts are being made to make it more attractive in future.

“As there will be no Olympics or Thomas Cup events next year, we can plan it better. We’re also trying to work out something with the Badminton World Federation (BWF) where we can have ranking points for the matches,” he said.

“We may even have a tournament for the ladies next year. All that is done to promote badminton in the region.”

Meanwhile, the semi-finals will see the Malaysian Tigers take on the Indonesia Garudas away on Friday before the home leg on Sunday at the KL Badminton Stadium.

The Leopards, the other Malaysian team, have a tougher task against the Indonesia Rajawali on Saturday before the away leg the next day.



THE STAR

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