KUALA LUMPUR: Hosts Malaysia have named Johor Baru as the new
venue for the Super Series Masters Finals, which will be held from
Dec 2-6.
Johor Baru will replace Kuala Terengganu after the organisers
took into account the southern state’s experience in hosting major
badminton events, which included three Asian Badminton
Championships (ABC) meets and the Malaysian Open Grand Prix
Gold.
Yesterday, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) general
manager Kenny Goh confirmed the change of venue.
“Due to the short time, we felt that Johor Baru will be in a
better position to host the event. They have an experienced team.
It is also close to Singapore and Indonesia and it will attract the
big names from these countries,” he said.
The Masters Finals will feature the top eight players in every
event based on the Super Series rankings after 12 legs – 10 legs
have been completed with the on-going Hong Kong Open and China Open
being the last two stops.
With the change in venue, the BAM are likely to postpone their
premier local event – the National Grand Prix Finals, which had
been scheduled to be held in Johor Baru from Dec 20-23.
“December will be a hectic month for the players. They will be
involved in the SEA Games (in Laos) after the Masters Finals. We
have proposed that the GP Finals be held at the same venue next
February,” said Kenny.