PETALING JAYA: It’s confirmed - badminton will switch to a new 15x3 scoring format from 2027 onwards.
At the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Annual General Meeting on Saturday (April 25) in Horsens, Denmark, the majority of members voted in favour of the change.
The new proposal was approved with 198 votes for and 43 against.
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) secretary Datuk Kenny Goh said it was time for the Malaysian players and coaches to make a quick switch to the new system.
“This is what the majority of the members want,” said Kenny.
“82.16% voted for the new scoring. Hence, for us, it is inevitable that we have to quickly adopt it in our training programme.
“We have to mentally prepare to enter the court with this scoring system.
“The world body approved the new scoring format to begin from January 2027, but they can bring it earlier if they want to,” added Kenny.
This will be the third major change for the sport. It started with the 15x3 format with service exchange, followed by the 11x5 system and the current 21x3 rally scoring format. There were others like 5x7 and the first team to reach 110 points in the junior ranks.
The BWF had said earlier that the new format could make matches more exciting and competitive, allowing faster progress to critical points and leading to shorter, more predictable durations.
The governing body added that fewer points could improve scheduling, tournament flow and broadcast consistency, while also supporting player recovery and reducing fatigue.
