World rankings determine seeds and draw, says Lu
By Arif Suryobuwono
HONG KONG (JP): The International Badminton Federation (IBF) agreed at its council meeting here on Saturday to immediately use the latest world rankings in seeding and drawing players in any tournament it sanctions.
IBF president Lu Shengrong said that the decision was aimed at minimizing subjectivized draws at tournaments.
The issue was raised by Indonesia. The Indonesian badminton officials were not satisfied with how IBF referees administered the order of play at the Thomas Cup championship.
"In the future the seeding and draw of any IBF or Grand Prix event will be made based on the most recent world rankings. Human intervention will no longer be tolerated. This decision takes effect immediately," Madame Lu said.
Indonesia's team manager, Lutfi Hamid, protested Sweden' swap of its second-string doubles pair with their first doubles. Lutfi also voiced concern about Denmark's decision to allow the new partnership of Jon-Holst Christensen and Jim Laugesen to play first doubles matches.
Laugesen replaced Christensen's regular partner, Thomas Lund, who was reported to be nursing an injury. IBF rules stipulate that such an unprecedented partnership is subject to a world ranking adjustment.
"Referees always say they have privilege to decide," Lutfi complained. The current system allowed a team manager to influence the referees' decision on the order of play, he said.
When confronted with the matter, Lu simply said that the current IBF system still needed improvements.
Lu said the meeting agreed to try out a 90-second break format in the middle of a first set, one-minute break between the first and the second sets and five-minute break between the second and the third sets at the World Cup championships slated for Jakarta this December.
The first-set break will be made when a player reaches 8 points in the men's competition, and 6 points in the women's competition.
The breaks, which are to be used for television adverts, was first formulated by IBF vice president Roy Ward, English shuttler Gillian Clark and her team manager, Ciro Cininglio, in a meet in Taipei in 1991.
The World Cup will also try out a single deuce, which only comes when two opposing players are tied at 14-14 in a men's singles match and 10-10 in a women's singles. The first player to reach 17 points in the men's competition and 12 in the women's competition will win the match.
After the deuce, the scoring will go on, instead of being reset to 0-0.
Lu, the first woman president of the world badminton body and the first Asian woman to head an international sporting organization, said that the World Cup was picked as a testing ground because it is an invitational tournament, not an open tournament.
"If the trial proves satisfactory, it will be up to the IBF annual general meeting to decide whether to adopt it or not," she added.
Saturday's session, the conclusion of the IBF council meeting, failed to name a date or host nation for the next Thomas Cup and Uber Cup finals in 1998.
Kate Killworth, the IBF press officer, said that two years were ample time for the world badminton body to decide on the details.
Kate said that unlike World Cup soccer, for which sponsors stand in line to pour in money, it is not easy for the IBF to find sponsors for its world team championships.
IBF executive director David Shaw said that China is the only country to have formally bid to host the biennial championships.