Fly My Ideas

Malaysia vs Japan. Korea vs Chinese Taipei. Yes, you read it right. These are two of the four quarter-finals in this year’s Sudirman Cup. In case you still haven’t realized what is wrong with it, these four teams have played each other in the final match of the group stage and they are playing each other the next day in the quarter-finals. At this point, you must be wondering: Why are they playing each other again? For all team events including Thomas Cup, Uber Cup, and Sudirman Cup, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) conducted a draw ceremony right after the conclusion of the group stage to determine the four match-ups for the quarter-finals. The draw only guarantees teams that finished top of the group will play a team that finished second in the group. In other words, there is a chance that teams that played each other in the group stage will face each other in the knockout stage. To understand why BWF made such a decision, we need to go back in time. Back in the 2008 Thom...

Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy. They are the top four ranked golfers in the world according to the latest world ranking, former and current major winners that decided to skip the Rio Olympics citing for reasons that include the Zika virus epidemic and the hectic schedule. Other big names in the sports including Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen, two former major winners have decided to skip the Olympics. At last count, six of the top ten golfers in the world will not make the trip to Brazil. In fact, golf was once an Olympic sport. The sport was last played in the 1904 Olympic Games in St Louis, USA. It was approved 63-27 by members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to be added to the Rio 2016 Games during IOC’s 121st Sessions in 2009. After re-introducing the sport into the Olympic family, the then IOC President Jacques Rogge was quoted saying “Time will show your decision (IOC members’ decision on the new sports which also include the inc...

It wasn’t a tournament that creates many excitement. A final result that nobody would have predicted - Portugal won. For a team that finished the tournament with three draws, third-placed in the group, and with a single win in 90 minutes but ended up lifting the trophy, this was ultimately the biggest embarrassment of the new 24-team format UEFA had introduced in this year’s tournament. Much like other sport organizations like FIFA and NFL, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the biggest reason for this 24-team format - Money. While sponsors and UEFA are happily collecting the massive revenues generated from this tournament, many must be wondering: Is this 24-team format a great thing for this championships? For start, this format creates more opportunities for 8 more teams to play in this tournament. Teams like Albania, Wales, and Northern Ireland are benefits of this new format. There are all making their debuts at this year’s tournament. But with more teams playing in Euro 1...

  China’s Uber Cup dominance might come to an end this year. It was virtually an empty Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on the final day of the 2010 Uber Cup, the women’s team competition for badminton. China, the mighty champion and six-times defending champion at that point were one step closer to once again defend their title. Standing on their way was the Koreans. A stadium with a capacity of 15,000 spectators only had a few hundred in the crowd. Perhaps a sign of confidence among badminton fans that China was without a doubt going to secure the title. China filled their strongest lineup led by then world no.1s - Wang Yihan in singles, and Ma Jin - Wang Xiaoli in doubles. They also had 2008 Olympic Women Doubles Champions, Du Jing - Yu Yang lining up as their second doubles pairing. On paper, the Koreans have virtually no shot of even winning one match, let alone winning three to win the tie. Koreans ultimately decided to split up their top two women doubles pairing, pa...

Victory in Malaysia means Lee Chong Wei is back on track, but the race to Rio remains wide open. As the shuttle from Chen Long sailed long behind the backline, Lee Chong Wei raised his arms high into the air, signalling to the home crowd the moment of the victory. His 11th Malaysian Men’s Singles title, a timely boost for his confidence after suffering two early exits in the last two tournaments. Although it wasn’t a competitive match as many predicted, nevertheless it was a comprehensive and convincing win for Malaysia’s badminton superstar. The victory over Chen Long also means that Chong Wei has levelled their head to head record to twelve a piece, having also won the last two meetings at China and Hong Kong in November. While Sunday’s performance wasn’t the best from Chen Long, struggling badly with the drift inside Melawati Stadium, the three victories over Chen Long signals that Chong Wei might have found the exact game plan to expose Chen Long’s weaknesses. Similar to victor...

Nike and Adidas, the two largest sports brands are dominating in terms of sponsorship in tennis. Big name players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, and Maria Sharapova are under contract with Nike. While top ranked players like Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep have sponsorship agreements with Adidas.   Here is a list of all the sponsors for all top 16 men and women tennis players: (excluding non-tennis sponsors) *World rankings are based on January 31st 2016 World Ranking: Name: Apparel Sponsor: Shoe Sponsor: Equipment Sponsor: 1 Novak Djokovic (SRB) Uniqlo Adidas Head 2 Andy Murray (GBR) Under Armour Under Armour Head 3 Roger Federer (SUI) Nike Nike Wilson 4 Stan Wawrinka (SUI) Yonex Yonex Yonex 5 Rafael Nadal (ESP) Nike Nike Babolat 6 Tomas Berdych (CZE) Adidas Adidas Head 7 Kei Nishikori (JPN) Uniqlo Adidas Wilson 8 David Ferrer (ESP) Lotto Lotto Prince 9 Richard Gasquet (FRA) Le Coq Sportif Asics Head 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) Adidas Adi...