Hong Kong Open organisers confident of being able to stump up the cash to remain an elite event on world badminton circuit

Hong Kong badminton is confident of meeting new requirements to increase tournament prize money to US$700,000 to keep the annual extravaganza at the Coliseum in Hung Hom, one of the world’s top class events.

The Hong Kong Badminton Association is currently offering US$400,000 winning purse for the week-long tournament attracting over 6,000 fans to the finals on a Sunday afternoon.

But this will no longer be enough upon the completion of the current four-year agreement with the World Badminton Federation in 2017 as the governing body plans to launch a new world tour series to increase the prize money significantly as a bigger incentive to the players.

“In future there will be three tiers on the top level – with the grand finals the highest, followed by the World Tour 1 and 2 offering US$1 million and US$700,000 prize money respectively,” said HKBA chairman Tong Wai-lun.

“They plan to start with a total 12-14 stops for tour 1 and 2 initially which is similar to the number of the current superseries but we need to bid the tournament with a much bigger prize money.