The World Badminton Federation (BWF) has just announced that the champion of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Viktor Axelsen, and the silver medalist at the 2021 Summer Olympics, Tai Tzu Ying, was named the best male and female athlete of the year.
This is the first season-end award for both Axelsen and Tai Tzu Ying - the 2020 All-UK champion.
With Axelsen, he is recognized for his extraordinary achievements starting from the Barcelona Masters in February 2020. The Danish tennis player has reached 10 finals in 11 individual tournaments, winning 7 of them, including the gold medal at the Tokyo Games.
Honored, Axelsen shared: This means a lot to me. Thank you to my team, coaches, friends, family and opponents. This year is really exciting. There are times when things go wrong, but there are many advances, with the Olympics being the biggest victory, a dream come true. This award gives me a lot of motivation to work harder".
As for Tai Tzu Ying, she won the 2020 All-UK Championship and then achieved high performance at 3 Asian Leg tournaments in January 2021, reaching all 3 finals as well as BWF World Tour Finals 2020.
On the journey to the Tokyo Olympic final, the Taiwanese tennis player (China) defeated Vietnam's Nguyen Thuy Linh in the group stage. However, in the final, she lost a fierce match against Chen Yu Fei of China.
Its a pity that I couldnt be in Indonesia to attend the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals, said the world No. 1 tennis player. I really miss the feeling of competing in Indonesia, where there are enthusiastic fans. I never thought I could win this award. I will continue to compete and try to achieve better results. I hope that fans will continue to support me".
Due to the impact of COVID-19 in the past 2 years, the BWF Best Tennis Player award is from November 2019 to October 31, 2021.
In addition to the two categories for the two best male and female tennis players, BWF also announced other winners. The two Olympic champions, Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin of Northern China, are the most improved players of the year, surpassing Lee Zii Jia, Pornpawee Chochuwong and Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik.
Lee and Wang won all three titles at the Asian Leg, before continuing to win the historic gold medal for Taipei China in Tokyo 2020.
Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu - winning the gold medal in the women's doubles at the Olympics, received the best doubles award of the year. While the Olympic gold medal is the peak of the season, the two Indonesian tennis players have also had success at other World Tour events, winning the Indonesia Masters and Barcelona Masters in 2020, and the Thai Open in early 2021.
Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Thailand), a three-time youth world champion, who has already begun to attract attention at the top level, was named the most promising player, beating other candidates Line Christophersen, Toma Junior Popov and Brian Yang.
In the categories for players with disabilities, Qu Zimo and Leani Ratri Oktila won the Best Men's and Women's Team of the Year for the second time. Lucas Mazur/Faustine Noel (France) received the best doubles award of the year.
The BWF reward committee also specifically mentioned the journey of Kevin Cordon ( Gu Guatemala), who has gone through 4 Olympics and his inspiring performance in Tokyo that took him to the semi-finals.
