Source: Sipa USA/SOPA Images
[Saba Sports News] The BWF Year-End Awards Ceremony, the premier event in badminton, is highly regarded by athletes as a significant career title ceremony, where awards such as Best Male and Female Players are announced. However, Shi Yuqi, who won the Best Male Player award, might not feel entirely pleased, and Viktor Axelsen, who is currently recovering from an injury, may be questioning his life choices. Reports indicate that during the awards ceremony, the host mistakenly read an acceptance speech for Shi Yuqi that stated, “This two-time Olympic champion dominated the entire season…” It was clear to anyone with a discerning ear that this speech was meant for Axelsen. It’s possible the BWF initially intended to award Axelsen, but after he withdrew from the Finals and publicly criticized the BWF for not caring about athletes, they gave the award to Shi Yuqi at the last minute but forgot to revise the speech. The host, seemingly unfamiliar with sports, read it verbatim. Upon hearing the speech, Shi Yuqi appeared very awkward and quickly joked with the host, “These two championships belong to Axelsen, did you get the image wrong? Is the name wrong?” From my perspective, while Shi Yuqi indeed performed well in the first half of the year and deserved the award, the speech indicates that it was originally meant for Axelsen, highlighting the BWF’s lack of foresight, leading to an awkward moment for the athlete.