Viktor Axelsen, Chen Yufei, Pramod Bhagat nominated for Player of the Year Awards » FirstSportz

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Thursday introduced the nominees for the BWF Players of the Year Awards in eight classes for the COVID-19 interrupted season.

Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Viktor Axelsen, his Dane compatriot Anders Antonsen and Wang Yi Lyu of China and Yuta Watanabe of Japan are the 4 shuttlers nominated by the BWF Awards Fee for the Male Participant of the 12 months Award.

Within the women’s singles class, China’s Tokyo gold medallist Chen Yufei is the favorite contender for the Feminine Participant of the 12 months Award. Carolina Marin, Olympic silver medallist Tai Tzu Ying and Akane Yamaguchi are three others who’ve been nominated for the coveted annual award.

Within the wake of the pandemic, BWF has determined to increase the eligibility interval to cowl the 2020 and 2021 seasons, ranging from 1 November 2019 and ending on 31 October 2021.

This implies the award ceremony may very well be extremely influenced by shuttlers’ performances within the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Video games.

Within the meantime, BWF launched two new classes – Pair of the 12 months and Para-Badminton Pair of the 12 months – for the prolonged season.

Indonesian historical past makers within the reckoning

Within the Pair of the 12 months Award class, the Tokyo Olympics gold medal-winning Indonesian pair of Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu is probably the most notable entry. They scripted historical past at Tokyo’s Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, changing into the primary girls’s doubles pair from their nation to clinch gold on the Olympics.

Pramod Bhagat India’s hope

India’s Tokyo Paralympics gold medal-winning participant Pramod Bhagat is the strongest candidate for the Male Para-Badminton Participant of the 12 months Award. Bhagat has additionally been nominated for the Para-Badminton Pair of the 12 months Award together with Manoj Sarkar.

Notably, the BWF Awards Fee acknowledged the extraordinary journey of Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon throughout 4 Olympic Video games (2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020) and his beautiful performances on the Tokyo 2020, the place he turned the primary Central American badminton participant to play within the Olympics semifinals.

World No. 44 Cordon misplaced to eventual champion Viktor Axelsen within the semifinal and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia within the bronze medal playoff.

The winners shall be introduced throughout BWF World Tour’s Bali Leg, beginning November 16 with the Indonesia Masters which shall be adopted by Indonesia Open, beginning November 23.

China has probably the most entries within the eight classes, with 9 gamers nominated for the awards.