COACHES NOT SURE ABOUT PROPOSED NEW BADMINTON LAWS

The Badminton World Federation’s proposal to reduce on-court coaching and tweak the scoring system has left international coaches a confused lot with the likes of Pullela Gopichand and Kenneth Jonassen questioning the logic of such a move. The BWF council has proposed that on-court coaching, which is allowed at the 11-point mark and at the end of every game, be reduced but hasn’t explicitly specified to what extent.

The world body’s panel has also called for a best-of-five format instead of the three-game structure. It has also been suggested that games be of 11 points instead of the 21-point format.

Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand said he doesn’t have any idea how the on-court reduction of coaching would be implemented and neither does understand the logic behind it.

“I don’t know what are the supposed changes, I haven’t seen the detailed draft, so I really don’t know. I think there was a time when there was no on-court coaching and then they added it. Now again they want to reduce it. So, I don’t understand the logic behind it,” Gopichand said.

Denmark’s chief coach Kenneth Jonassen believes on-court coaching is a unique feature of badminton and gives fans an interesting insight.

“It’s my belief that on-court coaching makes badminton different from other sports which we are competing against - it’s unique. From what I understand - TV loves it, gives everyone an insight to what is actually going on and therefore is a better product for viewers to watch,” Jonassen said.

Another proposal is to have a new scoring system of five games of 11 points each instead of the current 21-point system. Gopichand said: “It would benefit a few players initially while some will find it difficult. See I am not convinced about the reason for which these rule changes are being proposed. The 21-point system has been successful, it has grown well.”

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