BWF to tighten Thomas Cup, Uber Cup rules, change format Posted: 21 December 2008 1729 hrs KUALA LUMPUR : The Badminton World Federation (BWF) said on Sunday it would tighten rules and change the format of the Thomas and Uber Cup finals to prevent teams from trying to determine who their opponents will be. "From the 2010 Thomas Cup, only the top two teams from each group will make it to the next stage," BWF's chairman of events Paisan Rangsikitpho told state news agency Bernama. "A draw would be fairer to all and no one will have an idea of who awaits them in the second round," he said. He told Bernama the Thomas Cup finals this year saw South Korea field a weakened team in its first round matches and lose 1-4 to England and Malaysia in order to avoid a second round meeting with a strong Chinese team that could have knocked them out of the tournament. Paisan said the ploy worked as the Koreans then faced Denmark in the quarter-finals, Indonesia in the semi-finals and made it to the finals before losing to China. He told Bernama that the teams who top their respective groups will be given a higher seeding for the second round, regardless of their world standings. Paisan also said India would still host next year's World Championship, despite the Mumbai attacks last month. "The security of the players is very important and if there are any fears,we will look into alternative venues but as of today, India are still the host," he said. - AFP/ms
^^I thought..^^ ..the rules changes had been mentioned not too long ago; announced in BC, as well??..
