A press conference for the 2018 Badminton Asia Championships was held in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei province, on Jan 30.
Guests including Jin Hongji, secretary-general of the Badminton Asia Confederation; Feng Pingshan, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Badminton Association; Zhao Yunlei, coach of the China Badminton Team; Chen Linxiang, deputy director of Wuhan sports bureau, and Feng Aiming, director of the publicity department of Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone (WHDZ), attended the press conference.
The Badminton Asia Championships will be held at Wuhan Sports Center, which is located in WHDZ, from April 24-29.
The event has been held in Wuhan for three consecutive sessions from 2015 to 2017. Last year, Wuhan was selected to hold the event for another four consecutive years from 2017 to 2020, ranking No 1 among Asian countries, in terms of consecutive times it has hosted the event.
As the top badminton tournament in Asia, the event attracts the best badminton players. Nearly 300 players will participate in the games from more than 20 Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and India.
Competitions include men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles –– and each top 10 player in Asia must take part in the games.
During the preparations for the 2018 Badminton Asia Championships, a charity badminton match will also be held, to help students from poor families realize their sporting dreams.
A total of 60 teams will be selected in Wuhan to represent 60 students to win the grants, with a total of 200,000 yuan ($31,795) to be raised from the first batch of tickets sold for the 2018 Badminton Asia Championships.
In addition, the ticket price for this year’s event was officially announced at the press conference. It will cost at least 100 yuan for a group game, at least 300 yuan for the finals on April 29, and 1,000 yuan for a VIP ticket.
Tickets have been on sale at a 40 percent discount on Damai.cn since 8 pm on Jan 30, and are available on major online ticketing services. Fans can also call 027-68840513 for queries or 400-610-3721 to buy tickets.
Former Olympic champion Zhao Yunlei (third from right) is photographed with other guests during the press conference on Jan 30. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Wang Qihua, chairman of Wuhan Sports Center Development Company, addresses the press conference on Jan 30. [Photo provided to China Daily]
