BWF puts interim ban on ‘spin serve’

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) Council on Friday forbade the use of the ‘spin serve’ till at least May 29, ruling out the usage of the new serve for both the Sudirman Cup (May 14-21) and Malaysia Masters (May 23-28).

“The amendment to 9.1.5 of Section 4.1 of the BWF Laws of Badminton now states that the server shall release the shuttle without adding spin, and the server’s racket shall initially hit the base of the shuttle. Any failure to adhere to the experimental variation to the law will result in a fault being called," the BWF said in a statement.

The serve was first used at the Polish Open in March, especially by Danish doubles shuttler Marcus Rindshoj.

“BWF welcomes players creating innovation in our game and experimenting with techniques to create competitive advantage on court. However, we have received several points of feedback from within the badminton community, including the BWF Athletes’ Commission, expressing that this ‘spin serve’ could have a negative impact on the game," BWF president Poul-Erik Høyer said.

“It’s also been observed internally that this ‘spin serve’ has many similar characteristics to the ‘Sidek serve’, which is not allowed. An expert panel, therefore, recommended to disallow the ‘spin serve’ until further consultation could take place with the membership at the upcoming BWF AGM on May 27.”

The famous Sidek brothers of Malaysia invented a serve in the 1980s where the server would slice the serve thereby hitting the feathers instead of the cork, making it extremely difficult for the receiver to return.

“BWF also wanted to avoid a scenario where the upcoming BWF Sudirman Cup, and other international tournaments, could be platforms to test the new ‘spin serve’ and ultimately disrupt the competitions," said Hoyer.

“As such, BWF Council felt it best to impose this experimental variation to disallow the ‘spin serve’ until BWF Council convenes again on May 29 for further discussion and deliberation.”

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.