Thursday March 7, 2013

Inclusion of women in Axiata Cup will help teams prepare for Sudirman Cup

By KNG ZHENG GUAN

Game on: Axiata Group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Jamaludin Ibrahim (left) and Indonesia’s Simon Santoso during the launch of the Axiata Cup 2013.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Axiata Cup organisers, Total Sports Asia (TSA), believe that the changes made to the tournament’s format will only serve to help teams in their preparation for the Surdiman Cup (May 19-26).

The main changes to the US$1mil tournament are the inclusion of women shuttlers for singles and mixed doubles and four matches a tie instead of just three.

Teams will also be awarded points for each match won in a tie and, as such, it is possible for teams to end up with a draw.

The first leg of the tournament will be held in Surabaya from March 21-24, the second leg in Kuala Lumpur from March 29-31 and the semi-finals and final also in Kuala Lumpur from April 13-14.

“South-east Asia has several strong women players and we didn’t want to leave them out,” said TSA chief executive officer Marcus Luer during the launch of the tournament on Tuesday.

“This tournament is really a good platform, especially in the SEA region, and the addition of women shuttlers will make it a better competition.

“Teams who competed last year will also be better prepared this time. We’re expecting more quality matches this time.

“With this being the Surdiman Cup year, we believe that it’ll help and enhance each team’s preparations since there aren’t that many team events.”

There will be eight teams competing in this year’s tournament – Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Asia All Stars (non South-east Asian players) and Europe All Stars.

The winners will bag a cool US$400,000, while the runners-up and third-placed teams will take home US$200,000 and US$150,000 respectively.

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