“We have been trying to raise the level of our flagship event but the competition is really strong,” Tong Wai-lun, the Hong Kong Badminton Association’s chairman, said. “A lot of cities around the world are trying to use badminton to promote themselves and are willing to invest in the event with strong financial backing.

“For us, money is not a major concern as we can secure enough commercial sponsors to provide the required prize money and our organisation power is also second to none among our counterparts.

“But the facilities are a big problem as our venue at Hong Kong Coliseum can hardly compare with other cities.”

A Super 1,000 tournament offers a minimum US$1 million total winning purse, followed by Super 750 (US$700,000), Super 500 (US$350,000), Super 300 (US$150,000) and Super 100 at the bottom with a minimum prize money of US$75,000. Also, more ranking points are on offer for the players in accordance with the tournament level.

Hong Kong has been a Super 500 tournament since the BWF introduced a new system in 2018, replacing the previous world super-series when the city was among one of the 12 stops around the world.

The first Hong Kong Open was held at the 3,200 seat Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Wan Chai in 1982, before moving to the bigger Hung Hom venue in 2011. Despite a bigger capacity of 12,000 seats at the Coliseum, organisers can only open three sides of the spectator stands, as one third of the court is circled by a big curtain and used as a players’ warm-up area.

“We feel shy when officials visit the Hong Kong Open at the Coliseum,” Tong said. “Of course they won’t be happy with our facility and perhaps this is a major reason of why they didn’t upgrade our tournament.

“But this could change when we have the new facility in place at the Kai Tak Sports Park which can accommodate a seating capacity of up to 10,000. There will also be a separate ancillary hall which can be used as a warm-up area.

“We therefore plan to invite BWF officials to the 2025 Hong Kong Open when we move the tournament to the indoor sports centre and they will definitely be impressed by the new facility.

Hong Kong should be in a stronger position when they decide the new world tour from 2027 onwards.”

The indoor sports centre, along with the 50,000-seater stadium at the Kai Tak Sports Park was expected to open late next year, but the government said last month the project had been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

It is now planned for completion in the second half of 2024 and the Hong Kong Open should be able to move to the new venue the following year.

While officials plan for the future, the city’s badminton stars were in action at the Singapore Open on Wednesday, and Reginald Lee Chun-hei and Ng Tsz-yau won their first Super 500 match after the mixed doubles pair beat Feng Yanzhe and Lin Fangling of China in three games 11-21, 21-13, 21-14.

They last played in a Super 300 tournament before the pandemic and will now take on Chen Tang Jie and Valeree Siow of Malaysia in the second round.

Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet also won through, taking only 23 minutes to thrash Adham Hatem Elgamal and Doha Hany of Egypt 21-13, 21-12 to set up a clash against Hafiz Faizal and Serena Kani of Indonesia.

In the men’s singles, Lee Cheuk-yiu beat Misha Zilberman of Israel 21-15, 21-19, and will face Ng Tze Yong of Malaysia in the next round. The latter stunned Hong Kong number one Angus Ng Ka-long in two games 21-16, 21-17.

Ng was the runner-up at last week’s Malaysian Masters after losing to Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia in the final. Chico was also knocked out in the first round, losing 21-12, 21-17 to Brian Yang of Canada.