Badminton Indonesia complains regarding Jonatan Christie's tough schedule to BWF

Lakshya Sen has been drawn alongside Jonatan Christie in Group L.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has responded to the formal protest by the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) about the scheduling of matches for Jonatan Christie at Paris Olympics 2024. According to the PBSI, the scheduling gives an undue advantage to Anders Antonsen of Denmark over Christie, though they are seeded third and fourth respectively.

Third seed Jonatan Christie is in Group L of the draw and has to play three times in the group phase, while Antonsen, who is in Group E, will play only twice in the group stage and will also receive a bye into the quarterfinals, should he qualify. Under this system, Christie could have to play seven times to reach the final, while Antonsen would need to play just five times.

Group L consists of Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, India’s Lakshya Sen, Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon, and Belgium’s Julien Carraggi.

Also Read: Paris Olympics 2024 Badminton Draw: Full list of groups

After PBSI’s protest, BWF acknowledged the issues but revealed that “the structure of the tournament, including seedings and the match setting, was decided by a random drawing process.” They assured PBSI that they would review and assess this drawing process to ensure it is impartial for all tournaments in the future.

Additionally, BWF committed to changing the match schedule in Group L so that Jonatan Christie and other players in the same group could get rest time between matches.

Bambang Roedyanto, the head of foreign relations of PBSI, was vehemently disappointed with the situation, stressing that this has been very tiring physically and mentally for Jonatan Christie. He added that he needed to ensure the rules governing the tournament were equitably and transparently applied so as not to harm the integrity of the sport.

While it acknowledged the procedural aspect of how the tournament was set up, BWF’s answer opened up a bigger issue with the fairness of seeding and match scheduling in major badminton events. PBSI advised BWF not to use the same structure in future tournaments to avoid differences in competitive conditions between athletes.

With the kickoff of the main competition in badminton events for the 2024 Paris Olympics, all eyes will be on Jonatan Christie and his journey through Group L. Expectations are heightened not just within the arena for Christie’s performance but equally in the existing dialogue of fairness and equitability in international badminton competitions.

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