IBF plans to make badminton attractive Author: Times of India Wednesday 15 December 2004 The International Badminton Federation has been contemplating drastic changes to make the game more appealing and popular. This was stated by IBF vice-president Datuk Punch Gunalan. The Asian Badminton Confederation secretary general, Gunalan also disclosed that there will be changes not only in the game format but also in the structure of the IBF as well. In the EGM this month, the alterations have been agreed upon to make the game more television and spectators friendly and will be implemented next year. "The scoring is a major issue. We are thinking of applying the volleyball scoring pattern because our idea is to finish a match within half an hour or so," he explained. "This will make the game more attractive from the TV audience's point of view. According to a study, TV viewers like to watch matches two to three hours at a go. We are targeting to finish a day's schedule within that period. "Besides, we are contemplating of doing away with the present dress code to add more colour to the coverage for both the TV and spectators," he said. The IBF wants to make use of information and technology to the fullest. "The idea behind is to create suspense in the audience. We will allow players to challenge decisions of line judges. And through the help of video cameras on the lines, the decision will be upheld or rejected. The use of technology will also reduce the number of line judges from 12 to just four. The IBF has also planned to open five centres in Germany, Bulgaria, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and the USA (the last one tentatively decided). It will train players of less developed and developing countries. The centres will also be used to prepare coaches. The certified coaches from these centres will be sent to places where the game has to be developed, he informed. Gunalan says that the IBF will have a research department at these centres to conduct various studies. "Right now what we have in our mind is to replace feather shuttles for lower level players. Badminton is the only game in which a living being is killed to prepare goods. This kind of research is already on in China. "Similarly, the research on the rackets size is also in pipeline. We have the size of the court in our mind. We are thinking of experimenting with court having just two lines instead of three," said Gunalan. A big step about the IBF is to shift its 70-year-old headquarters from England to Kuala Lumpur.
oh no, hopefully there won't be wholesale changes... 1) racquet sports are different from ball and team sports. just like tennis and table tennis, an exciting match can easily exceed an hour or so. 2) reduce nos of line judges? = retrenchment? haha 3) actually, i'm not too sure.. do we really have to kill the geese for the feathers? can we develop a breed of geese such that they will be just like sheeps, we dun have to kill them for their wool...? i believe no matter how much research is put into searching for an alternative, nothing come close to a feather shuttlecock. no compromise for good flight. 4) all the pipelines sound scary enough. imagine we invest so much in the racquets and all of a sudden, just a matter of a few years' time, the racquet size has been changed dramatically? omigod... and court lines? all are good but probably unfeasible ideas... 5) why the need to shift the HQ? just becoz the sport is more popular in asia? then how are we going to promote the sport in Europe and possibly the whole world in the future?
Some drastic changes can have some detrimental effects to the game. The larger, stiffer high-tech rackets used in tennis today has had some negative effects on the pro men's game... on fast surfaces, rallies tend to be much too short. Improving the visibility of the ball has offset this somewhat tho'. Perhaps we need to improve the visibility of shuttles and of the average badminton gym as well. this would certainly improve the game for TV as well as for the average person playing the game. Allowing indoor volleyball players to use their feet for playing the ball, has also had a negative effect... less players at the amateur levels are diving for balls. It really is a shame to see this happening cuz of rule changes. Some changes can improve the game, others can have some very undesireable effects on it. I was really glad to see the 7-point game idea fade away... it changed the flavor of the game too much.
Changes Some of these ideas sound like they could ruin the game. If they want to emulate volleyball (and I presume they are thinking of the success of beach volleyball in the last few years) why not go all the way and have the women play in tight outfits, or just bikinis? FIFA were considering changing the women's shorts to a tighter, smaller version to make them more 'appealing' for TV audiences (aka men). I know sports change and evolve with the times and technology but these things happen naturally and slowly, not suddenly and arbitrarily to satisfy some media spin doctor's ideas. The sport of badminton is fine just as it is, it's the image people have of the sport that's the problem. They should change people's perceptions, show them what a great sport it is, rather than trying to make badminton into some TV circus.
Along with improving the visibility of the shuttle (for both TV viewer & for the averagev player), how about developing a synthetic shuttle that plays a lot more like good feather shuttles but still have the durability of nylon. I've been hearing for years that new feather-like synthetic shuttles were being developed, but I've never seen them. Another change proposal: Let's make the drive serve completely illegal. Flicks are OK, but too many ppl already serve illegally trying to hit offensive drive serves. This type of serve diminshes the game. Unlike tennis, the serve in badminton was never intended to be an offensive weapon. We'll get better rallies, if ppl will stop trying to get cheap points with illegal serves.
I didn't know badminton is the only sport that kills. Isn't natural gut string used in Tennis, squash, badminton and other racquet sports made with living tissue? I do believe its legal to eat geese (among other things) in China, so I don't think they'll just throw the bird away when you can prolly sell it to a restaurant.
Definitely a positive move for players of all levels. If the sport attracts more audience on TV, money flows in, and professional players benefit from it. I hope his proposals materialize.
I think they should'nt make too many changes. Yes, the scoring needs to be changed as suggested. And use of technologies like video camera to supervise those sometimes biased line judges should have long been used.
i believe there are ways to make nylon to perform closer to feather shuttles. Manufacturers resist because the profit margin on the current plastic shuttles is exceedingly XOlent. Why change something that is soooo good (to them)? i think ur wrong about the legal drive serve. If it's such an offensive weapon, why pro don't use drive serve 99.9% of time? Only newbies have problem wif the drive serve or the drive serve done illegally hehe
my opinions FOR - i'm for reducing dress code limitation - i'm for reducing dress coverage requirement (hmmm, guys in spandex ) - i'm for camera on line and allow tape replay for controversial calls - i'm for having more knowledge transfer to other less badminton developed nations. - i dont mind lines for dedicated singles and doubles courts. NEUTRAL -i'm kinda for changing scores to like volleyball BUT ONLY IF the scoring is raise from 15 to 21 or 25 (i forgot what volleyball uses), and tryout this new scoring system on mid level tournaments at first. -i'm kinda for equipment modification but holding current specs hold for star rated tournaments just like golf where PGA specs must be followed for PGA sanctioned tournaments while newbies can still buy and use super duper illegal size and design clubs for recreational and low level tournaments. However, i hope most newbies should spend money on training rather than on illegal sized super duper sweet spot racquets. The current crop of rackets are excellent and durable already in my opinion. NOT - i think the court size we have now is fine
I think in volleyball you can score when you don't have the serve so it would reduce the pressure on the server in badminton if it did change since you don't need it to score. I think you have to win by 2 clear points also after you reach a certain score? Can someone confirm
volleyball is usually 25 points and then the last game is 15... u can win points regardless of who serves, and the winner of the point gets to serve. and yes, u do have to win by 2 and the score can be "unlimited" (ie: theoretically, u could have 101-99) oh, and best 3/5...
I'm against allowing players to challenge line judges. I have a feeling if that is allowed, every single play will be challenged and it'll end up being like a football game. Players will certainly be tempted to do this if they are running low on stamina to stall the game as much as possible. Actually there was a tournament over here at Purdue with the kind of "volleyball scoring" that is mentioned. Only a few guys were able to tell score and they couldn't take breaks during the entire tournament. The players didn't know what the hell they were doing, what the score was, etc. It was pretty chaotic...
there are more subjectivity in judging calls in football (even with slow motion replay) where as badminton line call under close up is easily resolved. However, i do believe the losing side could use this tactic to delay game. A solution to this is if challenges from players proved incorrect twice in a game, the umpire can ignore future challenges from that player. The umpire has the discretion as of when to refer to the mac cam
contrasting to my previous stance couple years before, i am keeping an open mind for this one. imho, if they can come up with a novel scoring system that makes the game more interesting, i am ok with it. however, if they are just gonna mimick some other scoring system for the sake of fitting into television, that's just a lame excuse. as we have discussed, it is the visual presentation of badminton that is lacking, the TV producers need to do the work here instead of IBF. i think the current dress code is very very good. i cannot imagine more colorful clothing than what we have now. i am all against "less" is more. badminton cannot be turned into a victoria secret fashion show. i am against letting the players challenge line judge decision. this is not a drama show on courtside, let the drama happen during the rally, and let the line decision be final and let the next rally continue. if they are going to make use of cameras, then get rid of all line judges all together. have someone sitting there and be a dedicated line judge. have him use 3 secs after each rally to review line calls. and have that decision be final. there will be no arguing and we can watch more badminton. if they can find a replacement, that will be great. but i think it will not be easy. i am against changing the court itself. the court it so fundamental to the sport of badminton, if you change the size of it, it will make too fundamental a change. furthermore, it is not feasible, there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of badminton courts in the world, nobody will be willing to go repaint all of them.
I disagree... it's not just a newbie problem at all. I've seen plenty of intermediate & even some advanced players deliver illegal serves in an attempt to drive it. A lot of this comes from ignorance of serving rules. Most ppl know about the waist requirement but I'm always amazed that a high percentage of tournament players and others who have been playing for years don't know that "the whole of the racket head but be discernably below the whole of the racket hand at contact". Pros rely on accuracy & deception in serving rather than risking a call for an illegal service execution. While some umpires are lax in making the call, others adhere strictly to the letter or the (badminton) law. I'd be willing to bet that even many of the pros would have a difficult time hitting a legal drive if the law was strictly enforced. Of the hundreds (or, maybe, thousands) of drive serves that I've witnessed, perhaps only TWO of those serves would appear to meet the criteria if the strictest interpretation was enforced. My point is that the laws should go a step further & just say that the drive serve is not legal since it appears that the current wording is not straightforward enough for many players.
changes Am neutral: re the clothes requirements, but hopefully something on the good taste side, the way men's tennis player's dress today, they look like they just came from the supermarket. Like someone who has no job and is used to hanging on the corner of the street watching girls go by... Am against: changing of the scoring system. A good game is a good game, and shouldn't suffer just because of TV coverage concerns. Am for: the use of technology.. but against the players challenging the call (given human nature, too much delay will happen) The judges should refer to the tape tho, in the case of close calls..
then explain why at high lvl tournaments, players rather risk illegal low serve than illegal drive serve? i tell ya man, i have a power player who served drive shots at me, yes, first one got by, but subsequent drive serves are returned by me with interest payment. I prefer drive serve to me, ok?
