Viktor Axelsen, Tai Tzu Ying named BWF Male and Female Player of the Year

It
was
the
first
season-ending
award
in
this
category
for
both
Axelsen
and
Tai
Tzu
Ying
–
the
All
England
champions
of
2020.
All
eight
winners
were
honoured
in
a
virtual
broadcast
on
Friday
(December
3).

Axelsen
was
rewarded
for
his
extraordinary
run
starting
from
the
Barcelona
Spain
Masters
in
February
2020.
The
Dane
made
10
finals
in
11
individual
tournaments,
winning
seven
of
those,
including
gold
at
the
Tokyo
Games.

“This
means
a
lot
to
me.
Thank
you
to
my
team,
my
coaches,
my
friends,
my
family,
my
competitors,”
said
Axelsen
in
a
release.

“This
year
has
been
really
eventful.
A
few
downs,
but
a
lot
of
ups,
with
the
Olympics
being
the
biggest
win,
a
dream
coming
true.
This
award
gives
me
a
lot
of
motivation
to
work
harder.”

Really
happy
and
honored
to
receive
“Male
Player
Of
The
Year
Award
2020/2021”
.
Thanks
to

@bwfmedia
for
the
acknowledgement.
It’s
a
really
strong
field
of
nominees
who
all
deserve
this.

pic.twitter.com/3SC3e39ylZ

—
Viktor
Axelsen
(@ViktorAxelsen)

December
3,
2021

Tai
Tzu
Ying
won
the
All
England
2020
and
then
struck
a
rich
vein
of
form
at
the
three-tournament
Asian
Leg
in
January
2021,
making
all
three
finals,
and
clinching
the
BWF
World
Tour
Finals
2020.

The
Chinese
Taipei
player
then
made
the
final
of
the
Tokyo
Olympics,
going
down
in
a
thrilling
match
to
China’s
Chen
Yu
Fei.

“It’s
a
pity
I
can’t
be
in
Indonesia
for
the
HSBC
BWF
World
Tour
Finals,”
said
the
world
No.1.

“I
really
miss
competing
in
Indonesia
which
has
such
enthusiastic
fans.
I
never
thought
that
I
could
win
this
award.
I’ll
continue
to
compete
and
try
to
achieve
better
results.
I
hope
that
fans
will
continue
to
support
me.”

BWF
Female
Player
of
the
Year
Winner
????

????️
????????????
????????????
????????????????

MORE
????

https://t.co/qe3w9VQHgR
pic.twitter.com/zsLeQu18Ks

—
BWF
(@bwfmedia)

December
3,
2021

Given
the
disruption
caused
to
the
circuit
by
COVID-19
over
the
last
two
years,
the
period
of
consideration
for
the
BWF
Player
of
the
Year
awards
was
from
November
2019
until
October
31,
2021.

Among
others,
Olympic
champions
Lee
Yang
and
Wang
Chi-Lin
of
Chinese
Taipei
were
named
the
Most
Improved
Player
of
the
Year
ahead
of
Lee
Zii
Jia,
Pornpawee
Chochuwong
and
Aaron
Chia/Soh
Wooi
Yik.

Lee
and
Wang
won
all
three
titles
at
the
Asian
Leg
in
January
2021,
before
going
on
to
capture
a
historic
gold
medal
for
Chinese
Taipei
at
Tokyo
2020.

Greysia
Polii
and
Apriyani
Rahayu,
who
claimed
the
women’s
doubles
gold
at
Olympics,
won
the
Pair
of
the
Year
award.

While
the
Olympic
gold
was
the
high
point
of
the
season,
the
Indonesians
were
also
successful
at
other
World
Tour
events,
winning
the
Indonesia
Masters
and
Barcelona
Spain
Masters
in
2020,
and
the
Thailand
Open
in
early
2021.

Thailand’s
Kunlavut
Vitidsarn,
the
three-time
world
junior
champion,
who
has
started
to
make
waves
on
the
senior
circuit,
was
named
Eddy
Choong
Most
Promising
Player,
beating
other
contenders
Line
Christophersen,
Toma
Junior
Popov
and
Brian
Yang.

In
Para
badminton,
Qu
Zimo,
and
Leani
Ratri
Oktila
won
the
year-end
Player
of
the
Year
honours
for
the
second
time.

Qu
Zimo
was
named
Male
Para
Badminton
Player
of
the
Year,
and
Oktila
the
Female
Para
Badminton
Player
of
the
Year.
France’s
Lucas
Mazur/Faustine
Noel
were
honoured
with
the
Para
Badminton
Pair
of
the
Year
award.

The
BWF
Awards
Commission
also
made
special
mention
of
Guatemalan
Kevin
Cordon’s
journey
across
four
Olympic
Games
and
his
inspiring
performances
at
Tokyo
which
took
him
to
the
semifinals.