Big winners awarded on BWF’s ‘Night of Nights’

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) handed out its awards for Players of the Year on Monday in Guangzhou, with the biggest honours going to Huang Yaqiong and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon / Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, all winners of 9 major titles in 2018.

Photos: Luis Veniegra / Badmintonphoto

For the second straight year, the BWF Player of the Year awards were dominated by doubles specialists, with the consolidation even more solid this year, as the only awardees with singles titles in 2018 were the Male and Female Para-Badminton Players of the Year.  China’s Huang Yaqiong became the second straight doubles player to be named Female Badminton Player of the Year, putting her in the select company of last year’s winner Chen Qingchen, as well as the great Zhao Yunlei, who won in 2014 after becoming the first ever win win a doubles double at the World Championships, and Gao Ling, who was named Eddy Choong Player of the Year back in 2001, when the honour was not separated by gender.  Five other female doubles players have been similarly awarded in the last 20 years but always jointly with one of their partners.

Huang Yaqiong is also the second straight player helped repeatedly to the podium by 2015’s Eddie Choong Most Promising Player of the Year Zheng Siwei (pictured right).  Zheng was nominated for Male Player of the Year this year but was denied the honour by the only doubles pair who won as many titles this year as he did.

For the second straight year, the Male Players of the Year are Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (pictured top, with the entire Indonesian contingent).  They won 8 World Tour titles plus the Asian Games gold, while Zheng and Huang won 7 World Tour titles, Asian Games gold, and the World Championship.

“It’s a great honour to win this award for the second straight time. It’s an inspiration for us to keep working hard. We did well all through the season but I would say our highlight was winning the Asian Games gold,” Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo was quoted in a BWF press release as saying.

The same press release quoted Huang Yaqiong as saying, “I’m very excited. Last year I was nominated for the award but I missed it. This time I finally won this award and I feel really happy. My highlight this year must be the World Championships gold in Nanjing.”

Going further than last year, even the Eddie Choong Most Promising Player of the Year honours went to a doubles pair, 20-year-old French Open winners Han Chengkai / Zhou Haodong (pictured).  It is the 3rd time in 4 years that this award has been given to a doubles player – since Zheng Siwei was the first in 2015 – but it is the first time that it has gone to one doubles pair jointly.

“This award is of great significance to us,” Han Chengkai told the BWF. “This was a year in which we showed great improvement in our performances. We had great results at the China Open and the French Open. This will inspire us to get better.”

Even the Para-Badminton Players of the Year followed the doubles trend.  Although Jack Shephard and Leani Ratri Oktila (pictured right) play both singles and doubles, the fact remains that both players won more doubles than singles titles in 2018.  Oktila won doubles doubles at the Asian Para Games, and at the Australia Para-Badminton International but she also won triple crowns at the Para-Badminton Internationals in Dubai, Ireland, and Thailand.  Shephard won SS6 men’s singles and doubles titles at the European Para-Badminton Championships and also at the Para-Badminton Internationals in Spain, Dubai, Japan, and Ireland, but in Thailand, he won doubles and was relegated to runner-up in singles.

“I’m feeling honoured and proud of myself for what I’ve achieved this year,” said Shephard. “And just to be named Male Para-Badminton Player of the Year, ahead of the amazing other players, is a great achievement. I think it’s the biggest award in para-badminton, and I believe I’m the first SS 6 (Short Stature) player to win it, it’s an amazing feeling.”

The Most Improved Player award once again went to a Japanese pair who excelled at the World Championships and won their first Superseries event.  Last year’s recipients, Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota, reached the final at the Worlds and won the Malaysia Open, improving their ranking from 20th to 4th in the world.  This year, Mayu Matsumoto / Wakana Nagahara (pictured below) followed in their footsteps, going from #14 to #3 in the world after winning the Worlds and snatching the French Open title.

Past BWF award winners

BWF Para-Badminton award winners

Additional awards