The Badminton World Federation has failed to get the desired vote for the proposed changes to the scoring system. The proposal was rejected at the 82nd AGM yesterday after the vote in favour failed to reached the threshold of the two-thirds majority.
The proposed amendment needed support of the 66.67% of the total electorate. It fell short by .46 vote percentile even as a majority 66.31% voted in favour of the change. Remaining 33.69% were against.
BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen had proposed a change to the scoring system from the best-of-three sets of 21 points to the best-of-five sets of 11 points.
The 1996 Atlanta Olympics gold medallist gracefully accepted the members’ verdict. “Our membership has spoken, and despite the very small margin in which the two-thirds majority was not reached, the BWF respects the outcome to retain the three games to 21 points scoring system,” said Høyer Larsen, who was elected to the post unopposed for another term.
“It is now the second time such a proposal has not been approved, but I see the fantastic participation of the membership and the decision reached today as an indication that the badminton community is very much engaged in the best interests of the sport during these difficult and challenging times.
“So, for that, I thank everyone for their role in this process.
“While the proposed scoring system change has been part of my vision to make badminton more exciting and to increase the entertainment value for stakeholders and fans, this will not deter us from continuing our efforts to increase excellence in badminton for all concerned in line with our Strategic Plan 2020-2024.”
The proposal put forward by the Indonesian Badminton Association and the Badminton Association of Maldives, and seconded by Badminton Asia, Badminton Korea Association and Chinese Taipei Badminton Association enjoyed the backing of the BWF president.
This is the second occasion that the proposal to introduce the 11-point, best of five games scoring system was rejected by the BWF AGM. In 2018, it was turned down with only 129 votes out of 252 in favour.
