Women’s game is not overtaking men’s in popularity: Jorgensen

Jan Jorgensen speaks to the press during the Dubai World Superseries finals draw ceremony.

The Rio Olympics gold medal contest in the women’s singles between India’s P V Sindhu and Spain’s Carolina Marin attracted 17.2 million TV viewers in India, according to the broadcasters.
Staggering figures isn’t it, especially for a sport that is struggling in recent past to produce the kind of role models of yore. Sindhu’s rise to stardom during the Olympics has come as a blessing in disguise. Not only has it given the women’s game a much-needed shot in the arm but the popularity charts have certainly gone up by leaps and bounds, as compared to the men. However, Jan Ostergaard Jorgensen, refused to accept that the women’s game was more popular than the men.
Speaking on the sidelines of the draw ceremony for the Dubai World Superseries finals held at the Intercontinental Hotel, Dubai, on Monday, the 28-year-old Dane categorically stated that he didn’t see the popularity of women’s badminton overtaking the men.
“I don’t see that at all,” he said tongue-in-cheek. “It’s nice to see all the Indian fans from all over the world coming to watch Sindhu and other Indian players as it makes the sport huge in India.
“I like when different countries do well, like Carolina Marin from Spain so I hope the sport can grow bigger,” said the World No. 1.
The bronze medallist at the 2015 World Championships feels the sport needs to have more events like the one in Dubai and the upcoming Premier Badminton League (PBL) in India. For that he says a lot needs to be done. “What badminton needs to do is have more events like these. There are a lot of people wanting to see us play in different parts of the world so we have to let everything loose and it’s about time to just put everything up for grabs and see who wants it most.
“I just want the sport to get more professional, grow more. I need work done on organisation, I need work done on doping issues, I need everything to be more professional because like I said the sport is growing, the money is getting bigger so I want all the things to follow.
“I want the umpires to speak English. You can stand in China and not know a word. Also, I don’t want to play in the middle of the night,” added the Dane whose Rio Olympic campaign was ended by India’s Srikanth Kidambi in the round of 16.
Jorgensen is No 3 on the BWF World Rankings but is seeded No. 1 for the Destination Dubai event. When asked about the pressures of being No. 1, he said: “The World rankings is a better reflection of standings in the destination for the Dubai rankings. I don’t like the fact that Lee Chong Wei is not seeded. It’s not appropriate because he is the favourite. He hasn’t played many tournaments this year. I’ve played more tournaments than him that’s why I’m the number one but I still go into the tournament as a regular. I don’t see myself as a huge favourite just because I ended up as the No. 1 for the Dubai series.”“I see myself as a competitor for the title if I do well. I guess my name is not the first one if you had to predict a winner. I think that would be the guy from Malaysia so I just take it as another chance to go for the title.”
clareto@khaleejtimes.com