Data Map: Zhang Jun, chairman of the new Chinese Badminton Association. Taken by China News Agency reporter Han Haidan
According to The Voice of China News, Zhang Jun was officially elected as the new chairman of the Chinese Badminton Association at the Sixth National Congress held by the Chinese Badminton Association in Beijing. When it comes to the famous badminton General Zhang Jun, it must be no stranger to sports fans. He, who was born in doubles, won two gold medals in the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Athens Olympics in 2004. But because of this, his name appeared together with his partner at first. After his retirement, Zhang Jun was officially recognized independently by the public. He also became the coach of Guoyu doubles project and trained a new generation of Olympic champions such as Cai Yi, Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan. Since then, Zhang Jun began to serve as the head coach of the doubles team.
Zhang Jun has thus become another” sports star chairman “after Yao Ming, Liu Guoliang, Wang Haibin, Shen Xue and Li Yi”. So, what kind of changes will his appointment bring to the National feather who is climbing at a low ebb? Is it reasonable to stop the Badminton Super League to make way for the Olympics?
The suspension of the Badminton Super League makes way for the Olympics Zhang Jun: Our goal is the Tokyo Olympic Gold Medal
Zhang Jun was elected as the chairman of the Chinese Badminton Association, step by step, it is natural. And his first task after taking office is quite direct, that is, to play a good job in the Tokyo Olympic Games. In an interview with The Voice of China reporter, Zhang Jun said: “We think the Tokyo Olympics is our most important task in the past year, which is an unshirkable responsibility for our badminton people. So we think this big thing is more important than any other. What’s more, we are preparing for war through reform in case of strong war reform. To be honest, it is difficult for me to judge the expected result. But all of our five projects have the strength to rush gold. Our goal is the Tokyo Olympic gold medal. But finally, a few pieces will be completed through our efforts over a year.”
The national feather, who once took a big deal in various competitions, has experienced a significant decline in performance since the rio olympic cycle. The “small peak” of its own reserve forces and the emergence of rival talents made the prospect of badminton competition in Tokyo Olympic Games unpredictable. One week before Zhang Jun was elected, the Yu Chao League was suspended and the news of making way for the Olympics had been announced to foreign officials. Why does the professional league say stop. Zhang Jun responded like this: “The league is an important part of the athlete training mechanism. Moreover, in the 2019 Badminton Super League, in fact, because the Olympic points race is too intensive, many of our core players, if we say that the Olympic points race has affected the state of the competition, or there are injuries in the state of fatigue, this is actually what we don’t want to see.”
As Zhang Jun said, according to the rules of the World Badminton Federation, there must be enough Olympic points to participate in the Olympic Games. The Tokyo Olympic points cycle is from April 29, 2019 to April 26, 202020. Although Yu Chao lasts less than two months, it is consistent with the Olympic points cycle. Meanwhile, winter training before the Olympic Games is considered very important. In fact, Lin Dan and Yan Long, Yu Chao of last season, had been absent from the league because they wanted to participate in the system winter training. Choosing at this time, it is somewhat embarrassing to simply suspend the Badminton Super League, which has limited attention and lacks attraction to sponsors. Compared with the Volleyball Super League which adopted part of the “tournament system” this season, and the Table Tennis Super League which often “broke off” in the schedule, the market-oriented road of the Olympic Glory project has gone for many years, the embarrassment that is still in the dead end is obvious. Although Zhang Jun, who became the chairman of the Badminton Association, also served as a coach to seize the training, he must also consider the prospect of marketization in advance. Zhang Jun explained this: “One of the years when the league was suspended was to prepare for Tokyo, the second is to form a new mechanism for the league. The first is to take three years as a small stage, and the fourth year will summarize this small stage. Regularly make the league match well with the preparations for the Olympics. I may encounter difficulties later, but my thinking is this. Plan to find people who understand league operation or economic market operation.”
The primary task is to prepare for the Olympic Games Zhang Jun: looking forward to establishing a professional and amateur mutual communication mechanism
in fact, such projects as table tennis feather are widely used in the Chinese market. Badminton alone, according to the statistics in 2014, china has 0.25 billion sports population in this project. However, in the past two years, Guoyu has encountered a temporary talent cut-off and a long-standing lack of audience in the league. In Zhang Jun’s thinking, opening the “heavy door” between amateur and professional players is the key to solve this phenomenon: “I think Tokyo preparations and our amateur majors open this door, opening this barrier is not conflicting. As long as we make the rules well, a healthy competition will be formed. Let professional and amateur have a mechanism to communicate with each other. What’s more, professional athletes are also very happy to see more and more amateur athletes emerge.”
From Liu Guoliang to Zhang Jun, two fat people who” don’t understand the ball “seem to face the same challenge. The mission of Tokyo Olympic Games is ahead, and gold medal is the natural mission and responsibility. But they are no longer a coach solely responsible for the results. The status of the president of the association requires these “sports star presidents” to stand in a higher perspective and enhance the influence of the whole sport. Double Task, double test, the reform road map of Chinese sports can only rely on them to “touch the stones across the river” to make a way.
CCTV reporter: Zhang Wen