Chen Long takes worlds' only wild card

BEIJING, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced Thursday that Chinese star Chen Long was granted a wild card to compete in the 2017 Badminton World Championships.

This is the only wild card being awarded by BWF for the world championships.

Exercising its prerogative to nominate a wild-card entry in each category, BWF determined that the 28-year-old's stature and fan appeal would enhance the championships to be held at Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, from Aug. 21-27 this year.

Chen Long has won the men's singles title at the last two editions of the World Championships as well as gold at last summer's Rio Olympic Games, but he fell short of automatic qualification for the world championships, based on the BWF World Rankings of April 27, the ranking date that determined the eligibility of players for this year's world championships.