The initial feedback received by the Badminton World Federation on its fixed-height service rule experiment that was introduced recently has been positive and informative, the governing body said.
The BWF said in a press release that it is optimistic that the ongoing testing of the Experimental Service Law (Fixed Height) is the first step to making service rules and judging simpler and more objective.
The Experimental Service Law (Fixed Height) mandates that “the whole of the shuttle shall be below 1.15 metres from the surface of the court at the instant of being hit by the server’s racket”. Testing of the law started at the German Open earlier this month, followed by the All England Open Badminton Championships.
Testing will go on till the end of the year in all Grade 1 events – except the BWF World Junior Championships – will undergo testing, along with Grade 2 events (the BWF World Tour and Super 100 events), and continental championships.
“The reaction from the global badminton community has been quite interesting,” said BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund. “Feedback from umpires suggests the introduction of an instrument to help them in service-judging has helped. We have also noted some singles players have said they had no problem serving.”
The BWF also acknowledged the critical views expressed by some players – especially the taller shuttlers – on the new law, who said that the fixed height was too low for them. Some of the world’s top players including Viktor Axelsen and Lee Chong Wei have criticised the new rule.
Indian shuttlers like PV Sindhu, K Srikanth, Chirag Shetty and Sikki Reddy were also not happy after the initial rounds of testing. Prominent coaches such as India’s P Gopichand and Denmark’s Kenneth Jonassen have also criticised the rule.
There were also some players who said that there is no need to change the existing service laws. “However, BWF cannot disregard years of feedback from players that there are problems around the consistency of service judging under the existing rules,” the release said.
“BWF generally agrees that existing service regulations provide a challenge for service judges to rule on all faults and this does not ensure the fairness which BWF is seeking to achieve,” it added.
The BWF also noted that “very little or no feedback” had been received from players, coaches or other stakeholders “to suggest other ways to deal with the problem around the service laws”.
However, the governing body expects more responses as the experimental period progresses till the end of the year. Depending on further feedback, the BWF will rule whether the fixed height of 1.15 metres is correct or it should be slightly higher, Lund added.