LONDON: As the BWF World Tour approaches its most prestigious week, nostalgia hangs over the courts at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
The badminton World Championships starting from Monday will mark the twilight of an era. Starting in January, the sport will transition to a faster 3×15 format. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) argues that this will shorten matches and increase intensity. Indian badminton icon PV Sindhu, also the Chair of the BWF Athletes’ Commission, awaits the impending change with anticipation. “Really looking forward to it. The matches might be a little shorter but the intensity is definitely going to be more. For Sindhu, the primary challenge is the diminishing margin for error. In 3×15, you don’t have time. After seven points, already half the game is over. So, it is very important that you fight for every point from the start. It’s going to be very challenging and exciting. “It’s important to accept the reality that it’s a done deal. “It’s going to just make the game faster. Scoring points will be important but not giving away points will be even more important. Endurance-wise there might be a bit of a dip. But the speed, power and focus needs to be top notch. The mind will play a much more important role. “The 11th and 12th points will be a lot more critical. That’s how the game will end up as. In general, it’ll be a lot flatter and faster with players trying to just be a lot safer, and not too much skill. However, the Dronacharya awardee remains unconvinced with BWF’s policy. “They cut the game to a shorter format but increased the length of the tournaments (majors and Super 1000s).
When the champions are crowned on August 23, it will be the last time the tournament will be played in the traditional 3×21 scoring system. Since 2006, the 21-point system has defined badminton, rewarding tactical adjustments and endurance. The new mandate is a sprint – best of three games, 15 points each. “In 21 (points system), you actually have time. Even if you’re 5-6 points down, you have time to cover it. From point No.1, you need to be alert.
Because a longer format typically gives you a little more freedom to open up your arms and play a few more strokes,” he said, that’s one area which the sport will miss out on.
“More consistent match durations” and “creating tighter scores and more dramatic finishes, the format aims to keep fans engaged from the first rally to the last,” is how BWF put it which making the announcement in April. “It is completely different,” says the former world champion. Let’s accept it and move on,” says the former All England champion. They should have done one of the two,” said Gopichand.
From next year, major events like the World Championships and team events like Thomas, Uber and Sudirman Cup along with Super 1000 tournaments will be 11-12 days long – the current schedule is 6-7 days. This has been done as from the next season, these tournaments will only have two courts and all matches will be broadcast unlike now where they start with four courts out of which only two are televised.
