AK/AH: Summer League (5/30)

        

Oh for the love of... I bet you thought the Badminton World Federation would be a dark horse for being villains on the world stage, but you were wrong!  Because the Badminton World Federation recently added an official rule at the recommendation of Octagon, an international marketing firm, that requires all female badminton players to wear skirts.  In addition to being, wow, such a terrible move, it also effectively bans Muslim women from competition (or at least puts them at a disadvantage, since they have to wear a skirt over pants).  And yes, that's enough, but good lord, having gone to see the BWF's take on the story I found this article, containing these choice quotes, by which I mean I basically removed three sentences about badminton from this piece:

"Japan’s Miyuki Maeda has legions of admirers from around the world as not only is she handy with a racquet, but her good looks attracts those who may not normally watch badminton."

"“For my career, I always try my very best. If possible, I would like to win medals in the World Championships and Olympics. Any medal would do, as long as it is pretty … gold is a pretty colour, yes,” she said with a big laugh, flashing that big smile which has captured many a heart."

"The 5’7’’ (169cm) tall right-hander admitted some of the attention from her fans can be unerring at times as she doesn’t consider herself pretty at all.

“I’m honoured that some fans may say I’m good looking or that Japan have many pretty badminton players, but honestly, I don’t think I’m special,” she said modestly.

“I don’t do anything out of the ordinary to pretty myself up. I just go out there to play and to have fun. Maybe the fans see us smiling all the time and think ‘that’s pretty’.”

Maeda, however, admitted she does like to dress up away from the court and loves to go shopping, especially for clothes, but has no personal favourite brand.

So, does she have a boyfriend? Maeda turned a little red, started to laugh before replying: “That’s a secret!” When asked if it is a secret because she has too many boyfriends, she put a finger to her lips before laughing out loud and saying: “That’s an even bigger secret!”

Maeda, who loves cooking Japanese food, is also into Korean and Japanese BBQ and said she has no problem eating spicy food.

“I normally cook Japanese dishes but I want to learn to cook other types of food as well,” said Maeda, who followed up her India Open victory by bagging the YONEX SUNRISE Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold a week later. “Cooking is good.”

Maeda should know, as she is certainly quite a dish!"

OH.  FOR.  PETE'S.  SAKE.  

Good luck with those sexism allegations, asshats!