The Badminton World Federation (BWF) have responded to Viktor Axelsen’s claim that the world body does not prioritize the players’ safety, saying they are not forcing anyone to play if they are injured.

BWF secretary general Thomas Lund told The Star the responsibility for all top players competing on the World Tour circuit is the same.

“We acknowledge that Axelsen is on a different spectrum in terms of earnings compared to other players. However the principle outlined in our statement regarding their responsibility is the same for all the top players.

“The rule referred by Viktor does not force players to play when injured. They need to show up for 1-2 days during the highest-level tournaments to support media and commercial activities. If a player is not physically able to travel, the BWF will issue an exemption from not participating and no further consequences apply.

“Only in cases where a player is medically capable of travelling but decides not to appear and participate in the minimum media-commercial activities to support the tournament, will the player be charged $5000 ((RM22,331) for non-participation,” he said.

Lund went on to add the rule which Axelsen highlighted has been in effect for the past 10 years, and BWF recognizes that players should never be forced to play with an injury.

Lund’s statement comes after the two-time Olympic gold medalist had on Tuesday lashed out against BWF after pulling out from next week’s World Tour Finals (WTF) due to a left foot injury.

Soon after Axelsen announced on socialmedia that he had withdrawn from the tournament, the world number three also shared an email from BWF requesting for medical documents as proof.

The documents requested were crucial for him to be exempt from a penalty for not playing in the season-ending event.

But a clearly agitated Axelsen went on to say that he has always tried to send supporting documents when he was sick or injured, only to end up paying the fine.

He ended his frustrations on that post by saying: “Just go ahead and send me the fine.”