Womenās singles world #2 Akane Yamaguchi earned more in prize money than anyĀ other badminton player in 2017. While Chinaās Chen Qingchen is 2nd on the list for the secondĀ straight year, this time she took in more than any doubles player has ever won.
Badzine reveals today the list of the top 50 badminton earners based on prize money awarded duringĀ the 2017 season for all Badminton World Federation (BWF) ranking tournaments.
At the halfwayĀ point this year, one player was on track to break the $US300,000 mark for the first time and severalĀ others were not far behind but it was Japanās Akane Yamaguchi who leapfrogged them all and endedĀ up the highest paid of the year, winning more in the last four months than menās singles world #1Ā Viktor Axelsen ā 9th on the list ā won all year. Yamaguchi finished the year with $261,363, from 15Ā tournaments.
Chen Qingchen, who is the only player to finish the year ranked #1 in the world in two categories,Ā was again the highest-paid doubles player and indeed she finished with over $10,000 more thanĀ Zhao Yunleiās 2014 total. This makes the Chen the ārichestā doubles player in any calendar year onĀ record. Denmarkās Viktor Axelsen also hit an all-time high, of sorts.
While he was short of CarolinaĀ Marinās European benchmark from two years ago, he did still manage to become the highest-paidĀ European male player so far, in prize money terms.
2017 also marked the first time since Badzine started compiling these numbers back in 2011, that theĀ top three prize-winners were all of one gender. Last yearās leader Tai Tzu Ying fell to third on the listĀ this year, behind Yamaguchi and Chen. Although Tai made slightly more in 2016 than Yamaguchi didĀ this year, the overall rise in available prize money is evidenced by the fact that five players won overĀ US$200,000 each in 2017.
The last time that five players passed this milestone was in 2011, whenĀ several players benefited from two editions of the Superseries Finals being held in the same calendarĀ year.
Amazingly, the top two in terms of prize money are also among the youngest top ten players in worldĀ badminton.
Chen Qingchen turned twenty years of age last June just a couple of weeks after AkaneĀ Yamaguchi. The only teenager on the attached list was none other than Chen Yufei, the shuttler whoĀ came in at exactly 50th in total prize money. Chen was the recipient of the BWF’s Eddy Choong MostĀ Promising Player Award in Dubai, where she also competed.
The 19-year-old Chen Yufei is ranked #8 in the world partly on the strength of her bronze medal atĀ the World Championships but there are actually nine medallists from Glasgow and dozens of top tenĀ players who did not make it to the top 50 in 2017 in total winnings.
The highest-ranked players notĀ shown here were Englandās Chris and Gabrielle Adcock, who finish the year at #5 in world rankingĀ points but tied for 98th in terms of prize money.
2017 marks the end of the Superseries era as we know it. As far as prize money goes, the numbersĀ should start to increase markedly in 2018. While the total prize money for the 32 events at GrandĀ Prix-level and above this year came to just over US$10 million, the top 27 tournaments next year areĀ required to yield a minimum of $12.1 million, even before the inclusion of the Asian ChampionshipsĀ and the Level 6 (or erstwhile Grand Prix) events.
