Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, December 3, 2021: Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei have been named the BWF Male and Female Player of the Year respectively in recognition of their feats during 2020-2021. It was the first season-ending award in this category for both Axelsen and TTY.
All eight winners were honoured in a virtual broadcast aired on Friday.
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 2020 Olympic Games.
Tai Tzu Ying won the YONEX All England 2020 and then struck a rich vein of form at the three-tournament Asian Leg in Bangkok in January 2021, making all three finals, and clinching the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2020. The Chinese Taipei player then made the final of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, going down in a thrilling match to Chen Yufei of China.
“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.”
Chinese Taipei won a second award, with Olympic champions Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin named the Most Improved Player of the Year ahead of Lee Zii Jia, Pornpawee Chochuwong and Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik. Lee/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.
Indonesia’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic women’s doubles champions Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu won the Pair of the Year award.
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.
In Para badminton, Qu Zimo and Leani Ratri Oktila won the year-end Male and Female Player of the Year honours respectively for the second time.