Badminton’s Annual General Meeting disapproved new scoring system proposal

Badminton’s scoring system remains unchanged as an attempt to replace the existing three-game format of 21 points each with a best-of-five of 11 points on Saturday failed to get the required two-thirds majority during the Annual General Meeting of the sport’s global body.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) member nations voted on the proposal to amend the laws of the sport relating to the scoring system during the body’s 82nd AGM that was held virtually.

The proposal had been put forward by Badminton Indonesia and the Maldives Badminton Association to amend the Laws of Badminton relating to the scoring system. It had been seconded by Badminton Asia, Badminton Korea Association and the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association. BWF Council had expressed its support for this proposal as well, but it came to a couple of votes against it in the final tally.  To change badminton’s scoring system from 3×21 to 5×11, it fell just short of the needed two-thirds majority. Needing around 67% of the votes, the proposal received 66.31% for and 33.69% against, with a total of 282 votes cast.

Changes that were propose to the existing scoring system:

• A game shall be won by the side which first scores 11 points, instead of 21.
• If the score becomes 10-all (instead of 20-all), the side which gains a two point lead first, shall win that game.
• If the score becomes 14-all (instead of 29-all) the side scoring the 15th point (instead of 30th point) shall win that game.
• The players shall change ends at the end of each completed game as long as the match carries on, and in the fifth game when a side first scores six points.BWF President Poul-Erik Hoyer thanked the members for their participation in this important decision.

The game’s governing body, under president Hoyer, had floated the idea in 2014 for the first time but it didn’t receive the support. The 11×5 system, which was criticised by players and coaches alike, couldn’t gather enough votes in last year’s AGM too.

According to the BWF strategic plan, it wants to “include new and innovative elements of the game to ensure this continues to evolve over time and excite, engage and enhance global fan base through inspirational performances at world-class events.”

Even if approved, the system would not have been implemented before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, and was likely not be fully implemented before January 2022 to allow players and coaches to practice and prepare themselves properly before the changes are implemented. The implementation date was to allow players and coaches ample opportunity to become accustomed to the system prior to the start of the Olympic Qualification Period for Paris 2024.