Gender issue enters row on badminton scoring system
Dave Thompson, Reuters, London
Badminton, played by many in various parts of the globe but watched by not enough, faces a revolt over scoring amid claims of sex discrimination.
The International Badminton Federation's (IBF) ruling council decided last May to scrap an experimental year-long flirtation with the 5x7 system (best of five sets, first to seven points).
They voted instead to revert to the old 3x15 but made all women's and mixed events 3x11, causing some to catch an unwelcome whiff of inequity.
Countries such as England, Australia, New Zealand and Canada are now looking to take the issue to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if the IBF finally ratifies the change.
But, in the light of a possible challenge, an IBF executive board meeting in Bangkok decided at the weekend to defer a final decision until another council meeting in November.
Stephen Baddeley, chief executive of the Badminton Association of England, has described the proposed new system as "a blatant attempt to downgrade the place of women within our sport."
England have rebelled already and are using the traditional 3x15 with, as in the past, 3x11 for women's singles only.
The 5x7 system was seen by its advocates as providing more key points, greater excitement - and more scope for commercial breaks during televised tournaments.
But there was opposition, particularly from Asian countries who prefer the "slow burn" and saw little need to tinker with the 3x15 under which the Chinese and Indonesian powerhouses have flourished for the last 20 years or so.
On a broader base, Baddeley is worried the IBF's stance on scoring in the women's events may undermine badminton's position in the Olympic movement where equality is viewed as an important issue.
Badminton made its Olympic debut as recently as 1992 but is already under scrutiny. Viewing figures were down in Sydney and last week a report to the IOC, ever conscious of participant numbers, recommended a review of whether to retain the mixed doubles after 2004 in Athens.
Worried IBF personnel decided at the weekend to seek a meeting with IOC representatives to press the case for retention.
On the scoring revolt, IBF spokeswoman Lindsey Bell said: "Of course, it's a regrettable situation to find that some of our members feel they cannot support the change but not entirely unexpected given the strength of feeling there was surrounding the whole scoring debate."
Meanwhile, badminton is striving hard to brighten its image in the battle to capture more TV exposure and more spectators.
"We are focusing to a large extent on the presentation on television -- making sure all our players have their names on the back of their shirts, making sure that at our international events team members are wearing team colors, (and) opponents at a given match are wearing distinct colors," IBF chief executive Neil Cameron said.
"We have been working with manufacturers to try and make sure that particularly ladies, but also the men, wear clothes that allow spectators to realize what the bodies of the participants look like."
Come November though, as the scoring debate rages on, the most welcome figures as far as the women are concerned could well be 3x15.