Lack of professional sports setup root cause of stars' pay disputes

LIN DAN, the Chinese badminton superstar and two-time Olympic champion, has accused his Super League club, which ranked seventh in the eight-team league in the 2016-17 season, of failing to pay him and six other teammates. Beijing News commented on Thursday:

Hailed by some as the all-time best badminton player, the 33-year-old told his 3.6 million followers of his micro blog that he was "utterly disappointed" and considering taking legal action against the Guangzhou Yueyu badminton club.

According to Lin's contract with the club, he was supposed to receive 4 million yuan ($581,000) for the season, which ended in February. The Guangzhou club's overdue payment did not come to light until Lin posted his complaint, which stressed that the whole team had worked hard to keep the club from relegation despite not getting paid. His head coach said the club did not pay the coaching staff and its other Chinese players either.