Sweeping changes about to hit the courts next year
BY RAJES PAULPETALING JAYA: Winds of change could be blowing onto the badminton courts with some radical changes. Quick matches are on the cards, with volleyball or table tennis-formats being used. The shuttle could be made of synthetic material and players could go down to court with eye-catching attires.
It will a year of experimentation in badminton next year.
International Badminton Federation (IBF) vice-president Datuk Punch Gunalan said they were contemplating making sweeping changes to make the game more appealing, popular and television-friendly.
These changes will be tested as early as in January next year in the IBF's selected Grand Prix and Satellite tournaments.
“The game's presentation team, which is under my marketing and development committee, were asked to look into ways to make the game more television and spectators friendly. During the EGM (extraordinary general meeting) this month, the council agreed on experimenting with these changes,” said Gunalan.
“We will test out the changes as soon as possible next year. We will select several satellite tournaments. It will be also tried out in selected Grand Prix tournaments, said Gunalan who, however, did not disclose which tournament would serve as IBF's first guinea pig next year.
While announcing that more details on the changes would be revealed soon, Gunalan acknowledged that the scoring format would see major changes.
“We find that (the matches at) the Thomas Cup Finals (in Jakarta) last year took too long. We had five hours of air-time but we exceeded it by two hours. We could adopt the 21-point system used in volleyball and table tennis, The main idea is to finish a match in about half an hour,” said Gunalan.
“The game is getting very demanding. For some, it has been tough from the first round and it can be very strenuous on players. We will also looking at shortening the duration of the tournament in a day.
“We will also adjust the structure of the court. We may reduce the double lines at the back of court and use only one line for both singles and doubles events.
Experimenting has been done before in badminton. In 2002, the scoring format was changed to seven points and, best-of-five games.
However, the following back to the traditional 15 points, best-of-three format.
Gunalan said continued researches would be conducted in badminton to find better ways to create suspense among the audience.
“We will place video cameras near the lines. The players can query the decision of the line judges if they are unhappy with any undisputed calls. We will also replace the feather shuttles with synthetic ones. It will add a whole new dimension to the game,” said Gunalan.
“We will also ensure that the players' clothing are more attractive to lure in television coverage and spectators.”
He added that researches on improving the game would be conducted at IBF's five new training centres - in Malaysia, Germany, Bulgaria, United States and China.
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