Badminton

Smashing response from fans for Malaysia Open

The BA of Malaysia (BAM) are surprised by the overwhelming response to the Malaysia Open from June 28-July 3, and all tickets from the quarter-finals are sold out.

BAM secretary general Datuk Kenny Goh said the ticketing website crashed on the first day of sales (May 26) due to heavy traffic and was only back online after slightly more than 24 hours.

It is learnt that almost all tickets from the first round have been snatched up by fans, who missed the Malaysia Open for the last two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Honestly, we are very surprised by the overwhelming response. I can confirm that tickets from the quarter-finals are all sold out.

"I believe there are not many tickets left for even the opening rounds.

"We promise to give the fans a good time, so we would like to see ticket holders be part of the things during the Malaysia Open, including a carnival," Kenny said.

Earlier, BAM had put up a notice on social media, notifying the public that ticketing sales website, My Ticket Asia, had crashed due to non-human traffic queuing up the system.

The bot traffic had caused the website to crash, resulting in many angry fans, who failed to purchase their tickets.

Kenny noted that BAM will try to improve on this ahead of the Super 500 Malaysia Masters ticket sales, which are expected to go online next week.

The Malaysia Open will also be held at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil on July 5-10.

"We are aware of this. We received calls in the office from fans.

"Hopefully, we will be able to open the sales for the Malaysia Masters next week," he added.

The Malaysia Open will be the first major badminton tournament to be hosted here post-pandemic, after the Asia Team Championships in Shah Alam in February.

The popularity of the sport has also grown among the younger generation following the rise of top players like world No 5 Lee Zii Jia, Soh Wooi Yik and many others who have become overnight social media sensations.

The craze can be compared to that of the Beatlemania fanaticism in the 1960s and the current Kpop trend.

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