THE ORGANISERS of the Singapore Open Superseries tournament are celebrating this week â and rightly so.
They have scored a first by taking ninth place in the Association Internationale De La Presse Sportive (AIPS) poll for
the Best Press Facility in 2014. And that is the first time a badminton event has broken into the top 10 in the poll run by the Association for international sporting media.
âIt is an amazing achievement,â said AIPS Badminton Commission chairman William Kings, âespecially when you consider that the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and the Wimbledon Grand Slam tennis tournament occupied the top three places.
âBut this breakthrough provides the perfect platform for the AIPS Badminton Commission to launch their own Media Award, especially with the opening event on the 2015 MetLife BWF Superseries circuit, the Yonex All England Open Championships, less than three weeks away.
âIt was also heartening to see Chen Long coming 17th in the Best Male Athlete of 2014 and Carolina Marin at No. 9 in the female list, with Japan menâs squad 13th in the Team of the Year. It marks a real breakthrough for badminton.âÂ
But with regard to media requirements at events Superseries and Grand Prix Gold organisers can be in no doubt what the standard is after the success of the 2014 Singapore Open, which ticked all the boxes for media facilities and photography positions in Singapore City last year.
During the course of the year all the frontline tournaments will be awarded marks by AIPS members covering the major tournaments and at the end of the year the AIPS Badminton Commission media trophy will be awarded to the tournament offering the best facilities.
The Badminton Commission is also in the process of updating the media guide produced in 2010 in conjunction with the Badminton World Federation and intend to circulate it with the help of the BWF to tournament organisers, referees and key officials to highlight the working conditions required by the media and to reinforce the agreed BWF photo positions for photographers, especially for different court configurations.
But the big question now is: Who can raise the bar further and improve on the Singapore Openâs success?
