BWF drops 5x11 for scoring and approves fixed height of 1.15 meters for service

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Badminton World Federation (BWF) dropped its proposal of changing the current scoring system from 3x21 (three games to 21 points) to 5x11 (five games to 11 points) at the organization's Annual General Meeting in Bangkok on Saturday, according to Tencent Sports. Meanwhile, the proposal for fixing the height for service at 1.15 meters was approved.

There are 252 votes in counts, meaning that it will take at least two thirds, which is 168 votes, in favor to approve a proposal. Over the proposal of changing the scoring system from 3x21 to 5x11, 129 voted yes while 123 voted no. In the end, BWF announced that the change will not be implemented.

As the scoring system remained the same, the proposal of reduction in on-court coaching no longer requires voting and is to be dropped. Moreover, the proposal of setting a fixed height of 1.15 meters for service was approved with 174 in favor.

China's Chen Long, gold winner of the Badminton Men's Singles at 2016 Rio Summer Olympics /VCG Photo

News about BWF's proposals has been spreading among players and coaches for a while. China's Chen Long, gold winner of the Badminton Men's Singles at 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, said that it would not make a big difference to the scoring system whether it goes with 3x21 or 5x11. "I just hope that BWF's reform is a fair change to all players and serves every one's interest," said Chen before the voting.

Nozomi Okuhara who won the title of the Women's Singles at the 2017 World Badminton Championships in Glasgow agreed that it would not have a big impact on the game.

Gold-winner of 2017 World Badminton Championships Men's Singles, Viktor Axelsen from Denmark expressed his resentment. "BWF made these proposals too late, only two years before the next Olympics. It takes time for us to adjust our styles to new rules. But as a player, I prefer 3x21 and personally I hope that we can stick to it," said Axelsen.

Viktor Axelsen (R), gold-winner of 2017 World Badminton Championships Men's Singles /VCG Photo

"It's just a change of form between 3x21 and 5x11. But it can be disadvantageous for players who like to control the game," said Zhang Jun, coach of Chinese badminton doubles.

Two-time Olympic champion, Lin Dan expressed his confusion about BWF's action. He said that he did not see a clear motive as to why BWF proposed the change. He does not think that the organization has fully considered how the players felt about the change. The failure of the scoring-system-change proposal's approval might have shown that not all Federation members support such a change.

Total BWF Tom & Ubers Cup Finals 2018 will start on Sunday in Bangkok, Thailand.