Olympic champions Viktor Axelsen, An Se Young, Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan and Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong are among the nominees for the BWF Player of the Year Awards for 2024.

It is the first year of the revamped awards regulations, with notable changes to both the structure and voting process.

There are five marquee awards recognising the best player or pair in men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

These awards honour exceptional badminton talent, consistent performance throughout season, fair play, personality, and profile across a 12-month eligibility period from 1 December 2023 to 30 November 2024.

The winners are calculated from a combined score of the total world ranking points earned across the 52-week eligibility period, and votes tallied from a five-member expert panel after every HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750 and Super 1000 tournament, plus the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, both of which hold double points.

A weighting system has been established whereby the total 52-week world ranking points represent a larger value of the total sum of awards points collected.

In men’s singles, Axelsen faces competition from fellow-nominees Shi Yu Qi, Chou Tien Chen and Anders Antonsen for Male Player of the Year, while An Se Young has been named alongside Wang Zhi Yi, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung and Han Yue for Female Player of the Year.

Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang, silver medallists at Paris 2024, are among the nominees for Men’s Doubles Player of the Year and are up against All England champions Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, and Kang Min Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae.

The Women’s Doubles Player of the Year features both Olympic finalists, Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan and compatriots Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning, winners of six titles this year, as well as Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee, and Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida.

China has a strong presence in the mixed doubles nominations, with Zheng/Huang, Asian champions Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping, and Indonesia Open champions Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin contenders alongside Dejan Ferdinansyah/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.

Apart from the awards in the five categories, there are two additional player voted awards with the Players’ Player of the Year (Men) and Players’ Player of the Year (Women), replacing the previous Most Improved award. The top 32 ranked men’s and women’s singles players and top 16 ranked men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles pairs as of 8 October 2024 were eligible to receive and vote for their peers.

The Eddy Choong Most Promising Award has been renamed the Eddy Choong Rising Star Award (for those aged 21 or below) and seeks to exclusively recognise the best emerging young talent. This is decided by the BWF Awards Commission.

In Para badminton, Paralympic champions Cheah Liek Hou, Daiki Kajiwara, Qu Zimo, Kumar Nitesh are contenders for the Men’s Para Badminton Player of the Year, while Li Feng Mei, Sarina Satomi, Liu Yu Tong and Leani Ratri Oktila are nominated in the women’s category.

Qu, Liu, Oktila and Li have a shot at a double, as they have also been nominated for the Para Badminton Pair of the Year with respective partners Mai Jian Peng, Yin Meng Lu, Hikmat Ramdani and Lin Naili.

The winners will be announced during the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2024 Gala Dinner on Monday 9 December from 6pm local time and streamed live on BWF TV, Facebook and Weibo.