BAM Want BWF To Implement New Service Rules

BAM Want BWF To Implement New Service Rules - The Badminton Associa­tion of Malaysia (BAM) have proposed that new service rules be implemented to overcome questionable decisions by service judges.

BAM made the proposals during the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) recent council meeting.

The BWF are expected to table the proposals at their annual general meeting (AGM) in Gold Coast, Australia, on May 30.

Among the proposals was for markers to be set on the net post.

BAM have, according to secretary Datuk Ng Chin Chai, also asked for cameras to be installed at the back of a service judge and for players to be allowed to challenge service faults.

“I’ve observed and studied the BWF rules since the Rio Olympics. I’ve spoken to members of Badminton Asia ... all agreed that we need to amend the rules,” said Chin Chai.

He explained that under the BWF’s rule, a service is faulted based on two things.

“Firstly, the contact point between the shuttle and racquet must be at the last rib above the waist of the player or at a height of 1.1m from the ground. Secondly, the racquet must always be slanted downwards,” he said.

“How can the judge be so sure that he can see the last rib? Sometimes, a poor decision by the service judge can decide the winner.”

Chin Chai highlighted several cases involving Malaysia’s Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong and South Koreans Lee Yong-dae-Yoo Yeon-seong during last year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. He also highlighted Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying’s mixed doubles match in the recent All-England final.

BWF secretary general Thomas Lund said: “We are always looking for ways to improve the standard of badminton. We’ll study the service rules and also look into the new scoring format being experimented (11x5 rally scoring format) in May.”