Dutch Courage - Senior Players Make a Stand

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Senior Dutch internationals Dicky Palyama, Eric Pang and Judith Meulendijks have taken the unprecedented step of issuing court proceedings against their national federation as all three, backed by the power of major sporting manufacturer Dunlop Slazenger, defend their rights to play with their own sponsored equipment after the national federation completed a deal with an alternate brand and have been pressurising the players to play with the equipment of the new sponsor Yonex for all International events.

By Mark Phelan. Photos: Badmintonphoto.com (archives)

Meulendijks (pictured left) who is sponsored by the Danish based Forza brand along with Pang and Palyama (pictured bottom right) who are both backed by Carlton, which is a wholly owned brand of the massive Dunlop Slazanger Group, have decided enough is enough as they strive to fight for their right to use their own equipment for all International events. Over a period of time all three athletes have become increasingly frustrated with the stand of their national federation and therefore have issued legal proceedings against their National Badminton Federation (NBB) with the Utrecht District Court.

The hearing is fixed for February 24^th and in the meantime all three players will miss the upcoming European Team C Dicky PALYAMA 04 SH SwO2008

hampionships in Warsaw Poland as the federation decided only to pick players who would wear and play in the equipment of their new sponsor Yonex. Both the men’s and women’s team from The Netherlands were both in with a strong chance of taking medals in Warsaw but without theparticipation of three of their premier stars the likelihood of medals is drastically reduced. The players hope that the court will allow them play freely in the equipment that they have used in the past and as they have done through history.

"The right of the individual athlete to use its own material as well as the right to materialize its popularity is also applicable in the sport of badminton. The NBB seems to ignore this and disregard standing sponsorship agreements of the players. Despite variousobjections from the side of the players and their sponsors, the NBB keeps putting players under pressure to use material of the new sponsor of the association during international tournaments. This has negative effects on the players and their performance. Carlton can no longer let that happen and therefore actively supports Dicky, Eric and Judith in their brave choice to request the court to deal with this matter.”

Peter Blommaert, B2B Manager / Product manager Indoor Dunlop Slazenger International in de Benelux:

“It's sad that the team is picked by what brand you play with and not by the quality of the players and their rankings. I would have loved to play for Holland and we have always had such a good team spirit in these events,” said Judith Meulendijks, speaking exclusively to Badzine.

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