For 24 hours, badminton fans had their say on who they would like to have as the 2011 BWF Players of the Year. Here are the results.
The top four highest votes for the male and female Player of the Year fan vote campaign are as follows:
2011 BWF Male Player of the Year
Lee Chong Wei – 34% of votes
Lin Dan – 22% of votes
Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng – 16% of votes
Lee Yong-dae/Jung Jae-sung – 14% of votes
2011 BWF Female Player of the Year
Liliyana Natsir – 78% of votes
Wang Xiaoli/Yu Yang – 6% of votes
Wang Shixian – 5% of votes
Wang Yihan – 4% of votes
The fight to top the 2011 BWF Male Player of the Year fan vote still rests on the fiercest rivalry in the sport between the reigning World Champion Lin Dan and the 2011 silver medalist, Lee Chong Wei (pictured right).
Though the fan poll has proven to be a bittersweet "revenge" for Lee Chong Wei, who was in 4th position on the poll at 4PM today, while Lin Dan had taken pole. Chong Wei eventually came up on top as the fan favourite, when he edged out the four-time World Champion by 12% of votes.
For the Female Player of the Year fan vote campaign, Indonesian fans came out strong for their sole nominee, mixed doubles specialist, Liliyana Natsir, this year. Sending the campaign on viral, the Indonesian fans were nothing less than passionate in going behind Natsir whom they salute as a role model.
The nomination lists for the Awards were released on 4 December, 2011, 8PM (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia time, GMT +8) on the BWF official social media platforms, Twitter and Weibo. Two hours later, the voting channels were opened on our Facebook page and Weibo for fans to cast their vote, and to give their feedback.
The fan vote results will be shared with the BWF Council, who are currently meeting in Queenstown, New Zealand, and will take the decision of the winners.
While the 2011 season's results and performance are at the forefront of consideration, fans appeal and the role model quality of a player are of growing importance in the criteria of the BWF Player of the Year award.
The winners of the two prestigious awards will be announced at the Li Ning BWF World Superseries Finals in Liuzhou, China, next week and the winners will receive the honours over an Awards presentation ceremony at the event.
2011 BWF Male Player of the Year Nominees
Lee Chong Wei (Men's Singles, Malaysia, Yonex)
Lin Dan (Men's Singles, China, Li Ning)
Chen Long (Men's Singles, China, Li Ning)
Peter Gade (Men's Singles, Denmark, Yonex)
Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng (Men's Doubles, China, Kason)
Lee Yong-dae/Jung Jae-sung (Men's Doubles, Korea, Victor)
Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (Men's Doubles, Denmark, Yonex)
Zhang Nan (Mixed Doubles, China, Li Ning)
Joachim Fischer (Mixed Doubles, Denmark, Yonex)
2011 BWF Female Player of the Year Nominees
Wang Yihan (Women's Singles, China, Li Ning)
Wang Xin (Women's Singles, China, Li Ning)
Wang Shixian (Women's Singles, China, Li Ning)
Wang Xiaoli/Yu Yang (Women's Doubles, China, Li Ning)
Zhao Yunlei (Women's/Mixed Doubles, China, Li Ning)
Christinna Pedersen (Mixed Doubles, Denmark, Yonex)
Liliyana Natsir (Mixed Doubles, Indonesia, Yonex)
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| Liliyana Natsir |
source : BWF Website
