Former badminton star Prakash Padukone today voiced his reluctance to the idea of changing the existing three-game format to explore the Badminton World Federation's (BWF) proposal of five games of 11 points each.
"I don't agree to the decision of the Badminton World Federation to test a best of five games scoring system from August," he told reporters after launching Tata Capital Super Shuttlers 2014 Talent Hunt here.
Top players such as Lin Dan from China and Denmark ace Jan Jorgensen have also made their displeasure clear to BWF's five-game idea.
"BWF is probably making the changes to make the sport more faster and TV-friendly to attract more sponsors but wouldn't agree to it," Padukone said.
He said that the federation should focus on developing the skills of marketing the sport rather than eyeing sponsors through format change.
"It is not that you change the format, and sponsors will come in ... Instead it is all about how you market the sport. It will not so tinkering with points system. People who can't market the sport they are into this business," he said.
Citing an example, Padukone said that soccer remains the most popular sport despite any tinkering with its 50-year-old rules. "Soccer rules have been untouched and remains the most popular sport than the Olympics," he said.
However, Padukone said that badminton can take the cricket route like honing different players for different formats like 50-over and T20. However, it requires a lot of planning, he added.
"I mean they can experiment. Like you know in cricket when you have a different sets of players - somebody will play the test format; somebody will play 50 and T20 formats. So, depending on the requirement of each format you train and I mean it needs a lot of planning and all that," he said.
BWF had said testing may take place at Level 3 and Level 4 tournaments -- including Grand Prix events -- and given the number of tournaments scheduled between August and November, there is the possibility of a sizable testing pool.
This is the first formal discussion on the scoring system since 2006 when BWF introduced a rally point scoring system (21x3) which remains in place.
Justifying the need for a test, BWF President Poul-Erik Hoyer had said over the years the level of excitement has been compromised in pursuit of ending games and matches.
