Nominees Announced For Badminton World Federation’s Night of Nights 2019

WHAT: BWF Player of the Year Awards

WHEN: 6.30pm – 9 December 2019

WHERE: Garden Grand Ball Room, Level 1, Garden Hotel, 368 Huanshi Dong Lu, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou

 

The top performers of the year will be honoured at the Badminton World Federation’s Player of the Year Awards, to be presented at the opening ceremony and gala dinner of the second edition of the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals.

The prestigious awards recognise the achievements of our elite badminton players and pairs in six categories, including two in Para badminton. The nominees were selected by the BWF Awards Commission based on their performances throughout the year.

Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo are in line to claim a rare hat-trick of Male Player of the Year awards, having previously won in 2017 and 2018. The Indonesians, who won eight titles this year, have been nominated alongside Kento Momota, Zheng Si Wei, and countrymen Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan.

Three of the nominees for the Female Player of the Year award are the same as 2018 – Huang Ya Qiong, Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota and Tai Tzu Ying. Additionally, there’s a fourth nominee this year – China’s women’s doubles duo Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan.

Michelle Li is the only Pan Am player among the nominees. The Canadian has been nominated for Most Improved Player of the Year, along with Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty and Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti.

Players from standing and wheelchair classes have been nominated in the Para badminton categories. There are two nominees each from China, Japan and Indonesia, and one from France and India.

 

FULL LIST OF NOMINEES

Male Player of the Year

Kento Momota (Men’s Singles, Japan)

Highlight: Winner – TOTAL BWF World Championships 2019; 10 titles overall

Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (Men’s Doubles, Indonesia)

Highlight: Eight titles on HSBC BWF World Tour 2019

Zheng Si Wei (Mixed Doubles, China)

Highlight: Winner – TOTAL BWF World Championships 2018; six titles overall

Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan (Men’s Doubles, Indonesia)

Highlight: Winner – TOTAL BWF World Championships 2019; three titles and 10 finals overall

 

Female Player of the Year

Tai Tzu Ying (Women’s Singles, Chinese Taipei)

Highlight: Three titles on HSBC BWF World Tour 2019

Huang Ya Qiong (Mixed Doubles, China)

Highlight: Winner – TOTAL BWF World Championships 2019; six titles overall

Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota (Women’s Doubles, Japan)

Highlight: Silver Medal – TOTAL BWF World Championships 2019; four titles on HSBC BWF World Tour 2019

Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan (Women’s Doubles, China)

Highlight: Five titles overall, including Badminton Asia Championships 2019

 

Eddy Choong Most Promising Player of the Year

An Se Young (Women’s Singles, Korea)

Highlight: Five titles overall, including Yonex French Open 2019

Koki Watanabe (Men’s Singles, Japan)

Highlight: Two titles; semifinals at Canada Open and Chinese Taipei Open

Leo Rolly Carnando/Daniel Marthin (Men’s Doubles, Indonesia)

Highlight: Winner – BWF World Junior Championships 2019

Kantaphon Wangcharoen (Men’s Singles, Thailand)

Highlight: Bronze medal – TOTAL BWF World Championships 2019; semifinals at Indonesia Open

 

Male Para Badminton Player of the Year

Lucas Mazur (France): 9 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze

Qu Zimo (China): 12 gold

Pramod Bhagat (India): 10 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze

Dheva Anrimusthi (Indonesia): 9 gold,1 bronze

 

 Female Para Badminton Player of the Year

Sarina Satomi (Japan): 8 gold, 1 silver, 5 bronze

Liu Yutong (China): 9 gold, 2 silver

Leani Ratri Oktila (Indonesia): 12 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze

Ayako Suzuki (Japan): 8 gold, 6 silver, 4 bronze

 

The Most Improved Player of the Year recognises outstanding improvement in performance and is a direct award from the Awards Commission.

 

Most Improved Player of the Year

Michelle Li (Women’s Singles, Canada)

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (Men’s Doubles, India)

Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong (Women’s Doubles, Korea)

Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti (Mixed Doubles, Indonesia)