A few significant updates to the Laws of Badminton were passed at the latest Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Chengdu on 27 April 2024, and regulations were approved by BWF Council at its meeting the next day.
Under the Laws of Badminton dealing with the Instant Review System (Section 4.1, Clause 17.5.2), the Referee is now allowed to intervene in case of an inconsistent or obviously incorrect decision.
The Law now reads: “An official’s decision shall be final on all points of fact for which that official is responsible except that if… an Instant Review System is in operation, the system in operation shall decide on any line call challenge unless an inconsistent or obviously incorrect decision is given by the system in which case the Referee shall instruct the Umpire how to proceed.”
This brings the Laws of Badminton up-to-date with existing regulations granting the Referee the authority to intercede with an inconsistent or obviously incorrect decision by the system.
Para badminton
In Para badminton, dealing with the issue of service, an exception has been made for Clause 9.1.4 which states that some part of both feet of the server and the receiver shall remain in contact with the surface of the court in a stationary position from the start of service until the service is delivered.
The exception (Clause 9.1.4.2) applies to players who are medically justified by the Head of Classification. The Clause states: “In Para badminton there can be exceptions to 9.1.4 for players that are medically justified by the Head of Classification (HoC). The Referee and the Technical Delegate will refer to a list of players provided by the HoC when applying these exceptions.”
AirBadminton
The General Competition Regulations now have sanctioning regulations for AirBadminton tournaments with the aim of providing an overall structure for competitive AirBadminton.
The regulations (under General Competition Regulations, GCR 2.10) include the provision of a BWF AirBadminton World Cup (for a number of qualified teams), a BWF AirBadminton World League, BWF AirBadminton Open tournaments and AirBadminton Continental Championships. Besides these, National AirBadminton tournaments and other AirBadminton tournaments have also been included in the tournament structure.
World Junior Championships
With the BWF World Junior Team Championships for the Suhandinata Cup having changed to a team relay format — each tie consisting of two men’s singles, two women’s singles, two men’s doubles, two women’s doubles and two mixed doubles, won by the team reaching 110 points first – a player featuring in two consecutive matches will not be allowed additional rest (Clause 12 of BWF Statutes, Section 5.2.1).
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