World No 12 Beiwen Zhang has set up a crowdfunding campaign to raise money in order to participate in the badminton world championships in Nanjing, China, in July.
The former Singapore player has represented the United States at open events for over five years now. Badminton World Federation regulations earlier did not allow her to qualify for the world championships as a representative of USA. However, new regulations introduced earlier this year secured her a spot in the prestigious tournament for the first time.
Beiwen said she had to rely on support from sponsors and prize money to travel on the circuit because USA Badminton provided “little to no funding” to its players, as the sport is not very popular in the country.
Beiwen started playing for the US in 2013 and won her first Grand Prix-level title at the US Open in 2014. She broke into the world’s top 10 in 2017, reaching a high of ninth, before she clinched her first Superseries-level title at the India Open earlier this year.
“I have played for USA professionally for five years, largely on self-funding, relying on my equipment sponsorship (Yonex) and prize money from international competitions and leagues,” Beiwen wrote on her gofundme campaign page. “I have many expenses, such as training, plane tickets, hotel booking, and tournament registration.”
She added, “I’ve come to the point in my career where my funds are not enough to keep me going but with your help I can achieve goals that I originally could not have imagined.”
Beiwen also said that she would have to rely on sponsorship to reach the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. At the time of publishing this story, she had raised $1,741 (Rs 1.16 lakh) in her world championships crowdfunding campaign out of her goal of $5,500 (Rs 3.68 lakh).
This is not the first time a badminton player has resorted to crowdfunding in order to play tournaments. In 2013, Danish players Jorrit de Ruiter and Samantha Barnings had also set up a campaign to raise €4,000 in order to travel to China to participate in the world championships, after their country’s federation announced budget cuts.
British badminton players had also launched a crowdfunding campaign last year to support their Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid after UK Sport’s funding cut.
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