On June 30, in the mixed team group stage of the 2024 Asian Youth Badminton Championships held in Indonesia, Zhang Zhijie, a 17-year-old player of the Chinese badminton team, suddenly fainted during the game and died after being sent to the hospital. This news shook the entire international badminton world, and famous players such as Cai Yun, Kunlavut, and Dechapol posted condolences on social platforms. At the same time, Zhang Zhijie's family, netizens, and the media questioned that the rescue in the arena was not timely and missed the opportunity to rescue Zhang Zhijie.
Zhang Zhijie, a 17-year-old player of the Chinese badminton team. CCTV News
The future star of the national feather who is on the rise fell in the arena, whose fault is it? Combing through public reports, it can be found that in addition to the main reason why the organizers were questioned about the untimely rescue of the venue, the relevant views of "the badminton schedule is too dense and drags down the athletes" have also been frequently mentioned. So, for badminton masters from all over the world who need to earn points, get rankings, and enter the tournament by frequently participating in international competitions, how dense is the schedule of major competitions announced by the BWF? What are the complaints of athletes, coaches, and experts? Is there any scientific basis for the statement that "badminton is much more likely to cause sudden death than tennis"?
The badminton schedule is too dense and is frequently complained by players
Badminton competitions have a dense schedule, which is the consensus of almost all badminton players.
According to Blue Whale News, in 2018, the badminton star Lin Dan once became a "trapeze" due to the intensive schedule arrangement, flying 60,000 kilometers in 5 months, "It is 4,651 kilometers from Beijing to Malaysia, Lin Dan is in Malaysia for a round of tours, and he has to go to Indonesia, and the straight-line distance from Beijing to Indonesia is 5,193 kilometers." This back and forth, two stations in Southeast Asia have to fly about 20,000 kilometers. Then Lin Dan went to Germany to play, and he had to play in the All England Championships...... In less than five months, it flew almost 60,000 kilometers. ”
Malaysian star Lee Chong Wei also complained about the "devil's schedule" of the Badminton Federation in 2018, "I hope to discuss it with the BWF, because even if I am fined, I will not be able to participate so frequently in a year in accordance with the regulations of the BWF." ”
In 2018, the BWF adjusted the format of international badminton competitions, requiring the top 15 players in the world to participate in a certain number of BWF World Tour tournaments, including 3 Division 2 tournaments, 5 Division 3 tournaments, and 4 Division 4 tournaments. Based on this calculation, the top 15 players in the world must compete in 12 international tours a year. This new regulation has also been referred to by some media as a "mandatory participation system for top players". If you add the Olympic Games, World Championships, Tangyou Cup and other international competitions, there are more than 16 or 7 competition tasks a year, and the top players are complaining about this.
Zhang Zhijie suddenly fell to the ground during the game. Screenshot of the video
According to The Paper, in the 2018 Victor China Open Badminton Championships, not only Lin Dan and Chen Long, the two national badminton Olympic champions, went home early, but Anceron and Dai Tzuying, the two world No. 1s at the time, also returned home. Why are there so many upsets in this race? This may have a lot to do with the BWF's latest reforms – the intensive schedule and mandatory participation make it difficult for both young players and veterans to withstand such a high level of competition.
Shi Yuqi's mentor, Sun Jun, the head coach of the Jiangsu badminton team, said frankly: "Now to play 12 tournaments (mandatory participation in 12 tours) is very taxing for athletes. Athletes are often prone to overdraft and even injury, especially for older athletes. ”
In the face of the new rules, Lin Dan and Li Chongwei continued to "travel one round" at the beginning of the 2018 season, expressing their dissatisfaction with "not working hard". As a result, "Super Dan" failed to qualify for the men's singles at the Asian Games that year, and only participated in the team competition.
Also dissatisfied was the 24-year-old Danish star Axelsen. He said at the beginning of 2018 that the new rules would hurt the players, "I had to play three tournaments in a row at the beginning of 2018, and playing too often would hurt the health of the players. ”
"The BWF doesn't think too much about the athletes." At the Japan Open, Rio Olympic champion Chen Long also poured bitterness over the frequent participation, "They have a rigid rule to participate in 12 tournaments a year, and we have no choice but to do our part." ”
The BWF has as many as 38 tournaments throughout the year, almost every week
How intensive is the international badminton schedule announced by the BWF? Look at the data.
According to China Sports News, on August 29, 2022, the Badminton World Federation announced an upgraded version of the 2023 and 2024 major event calendars (calendars). According to the BWF, the 2023 and 2024 badminton seasons will begin with the Malaysia Open and India Open as the designated season openers for the next two years, with a total of 31 tournaments on the tour schedule, with the number of Super 1000, Super 750 and Super 500 events increasing in the total 31 tournament schedules.
According to Xinmin Evening News, according to the new regulations of the World Badminton Federation, international badminton events are divided into the first level (Olympic Games, World Championships, Thomas Cup, Uber Cup, Sudirman Cup, etc.), and the second level (mainly tours, a total of 6 levels, namely the finals, super 1000, super 750, super 500, super 350, super 100). Among them, the Super 1000 event is the highest-level open tournament on the BWF Tour, second only to the BWF Finals. There are only four Super 1000 tournaments per year, namely the Malaysia Open, All England Open, Indonesia Open and China Open, all of which currently have prize money of at least US$1.3 million.
On July 2, upstream news reporters searched and found that on the official Weibo of the World Badminton Federation, there are still calendars of key events in 2023 and 2024.
In the 2023 BWF calendar of events, a total of 38 events are listed, spanning from week 2 to week 50 of 2023, with major events scheduled almost every week, and the duration of these events is mostly 6 days, and the times are basically staggered (not repeated). In addition to the 31 World Tour events, it also includes 2 continental championships (team and individual), Sudirman Cup finals, World Championships, World Middle-aged and Senior Badminton Championships, 2 World Youth Badminton Championships (team and individual) and other major international events. The season starts with the Malaysia Open on 10 January and ends with the World Tour Finals on 17 December.
There are 37 events in the 2024 BWF calendar, which are scheduled for almost every week from the second to the 50th week of 2024. In addition to the 31 BWF World Tour events, there are also 2 continental championships (team and individual events), Thomas Cup and Uber Cup finals, and the World Youth Badminton Championships (team and individual events). The season starts with the Malaysia Open on 9 January and ends with the World Tour Finals on 15 December.
The BWF 2024 BWF calendar has been announced. The official Weibo of the BWF
According to the BWF's "Mandatory Participation System for Top Players", the top 15 players must participate in three Tier 2 tournaments (All England, Indonesia and China), five Tier 3 tournaments (Malaysia, China, Denmark, France and Japan, Super 750), and four Tier 4 tournaments (Super 1000 and Super 750 lists are updated almost every year, such as the Malaysia Open is already Super 1000 – editor's note).
This means that top athletes often compete in 15 or 6 international badminton tournaments a year. Taking the main national feather team as an example, in 2018, it will not only participate in 12 tournaments, but also participate in the Tangyou Cup, World Championships, Asian Championships, Asian Games, etc. In just 6 days per event, the 16 events alone account for 96 days, and a quarter of the year is spent flying between venues around the world, which shows the intensity of the schedule.
The amount of exercise in badminton is much greater than that of tennis, and the sudden death rate ranks among the top three
According to Blue Whale News, Zhang Zhijie's death has also aroused the public's attention to sports first aid. Sports expert Zhu Feng said: "Badminton seems to be a big confrontation, but it is actually very expensive. Many movements are instantaneous anaerobic exercises, which can easily lead to rapid spikes in heart rate, induce potential cardiovascular and cerebrovascular problems, and lead to emergencies. This is also the reason why we often see sudden death accidents in badminton venues in media reports. ”
Lin Dan also released a video saying that due to the particularity of badminton and the too close arrangement of the schedule, athletes often do not get enough rest, "Badminton is actually far more intense than tennis because of its fast pace, many rounds, and many changes in the secondary start and center of gravity." And tennis players, after playing a game, can take a day off and go to the next game, but we badminton players may have less than 12 hours of rest time before we have to play the next game. Can the BWF think more about our badminton players? ”
New rules such as mandatory participation are especially strict for veterans like Lin Dan. The Paper
According to The Paper, in terms of the characteristics of the project, badminton has extremely high physical requirements - both speed and endurance, both anaerobic and aerobic, both strength and bounce, and also needs to have agility and be able to stop and start urgently...... "You can't feel it when you play one or two games, but after a year or two, it will definitely cause injuries to athletes." Sun Jun, head coach of the Jiangsu badminton team, said.
So, specifically, how intense is badminton?
Xu Dapeng, a lecturer at the Capital Institute of Physical Education and a doctor of sports training at Beijing Sport University, said that badminton is an intermittent sport, which is a process of alternating between high-intensity sports and intervals for a short period of time, in which the time ratio of exercise and intervals is about 1:2. A high-level badminton match usually lasts about 30 minutes, and a match against two players of equal strength can last more than 1 hour.
According to statistics, badminton takes less than half the time of a tennis player, but it runs twice as long and hits almost twice as many shots. In other words, in the same amount of time, badminton players pay nearly 4 times or more than tennis balls.
In the final of the 2019 Wimbledon tennis championships, Djokovic and Federer played five sets for nearly five hours, setting a Wimbledon record. In the race, Djokovic covered 5.6 km and Federer 5.8 km. Taking a high-level badminton match of 1 hour and 16 minutes as an example, the running distance of athletes is more than 6,400 meters, which is close to the average running distance of 7,000 meters for players in the current Chinese Super League.
In football, basketball and other fields, similar sudden court death accidents are not uncommon, but most people don't realize that badminton is also an extremely high-intensity sport that challenges physiological limits, including a large number of high-intensity intermittent sports. Athletes need to frequently carry out rapid acceleration, emergency stop and change direction in the game, which is the requirement for the muscles and joints of the lower limbs.
Upstream news reporters found that the "Epidemiological Investigation of Sudden Sports-Related Death in Guangdong" published in the Journal of Forensic Science in April 2022 found that the top three sports that led to sudden sports deaths in the past 15 years (2007-2021) found that the top three sports that led to sudden sports deaths were: basketball (34.5%), running (19.5%), and badminton (12%). Studies have shown that the majority of cases (77% of people) have little to no aura before sudden motor death.
According to calculations, Zhang Zhijie's extreme heart rate is 196-203 beats per minute. Tang Yucheng, Master of Exercise Physiology and Doctor of Sports Training of Beijing Sport University, introduced that reaching 75-84% of the ultimate heart rate is the average intensity of badminton games, and reaching 85-94% of the ultimate heart rate is high-intensity anaerobic exercise, such as the intensity of multiple consecutive full bow jumps, and the time of the maximum heart rate of more than 85% in badminton games accounts for 30%.
Upstream News Reporter Tang Hao Zhu Liang Part of the content is comprehensive surging news, Blue Whale Finance, the official blog of the World Badminton Federation, etc