IPOH: The 15-points system could remove the art of badminton.
This is the belief of junior women’s singles head coach Aaron Lee Inbaraj.
Aaron, who has experience coaching in India, Peru and Ecuador before taking charge of the junior girls in the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) last October, feels that players will not have much room to showcase their skills in matches if the 15x3 scoring format replaces the current 21-points system.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) are currently testing the 15-points system in selected lower tier competitions including the National Under-18 Championships which got underway at the Akademi Badminton Perak in Ipoh yesterday.
Aaron had to prepare his players to adapt to the new format.
“The game is definitely going to change if the new 15-points system is implemented by BWF,” said Aaron.
“It will become a lot faster. Players need to be on their toes. It will mainly be on speed and power.
“A lot of skills or finesse will be taken off. I feel 21 points is already a very good system.
“There’s a mix of speed and power, people have adapted so well where you do see a bit of fine skills being played.
“By shortening it to 15 points, probably the art of the game will be taken off.
“Whoever is stronger, wins. The changes will definitely affect how we train our players,” added Aaron.
While the system was new to many, the 42-year-old has experience with it while coaching in clubs in Kerala, India.
“I had two coaching stints in clubs in Kerala in 2017 and 2023 and the 15-points system is not new there,” said Aaron.
“In fact, it is played a lot there in the national tournaments. There’s a lot of players and there will be five qualifying rounds where the 15x3 scoring system will be used.
“Once the players reach the main draw, then the 21-points format will be implemented.”
Thus, Aaron believes India will have an advantage if BWF decide to implement the new system.
