New Qualifying System

This gave players, officials, and all who will use the lists, three months in which to become accustomed to the new rules, which are an attempt to put an end to one of the biggest controversies in badminton in recent years.

Although the sport made an enormously successful Olympic debut in Barcelona in 1992, disagreements over the ranking system preceded it and debate has continued since.

"The old systemwas complex and players found it difficult to interpret their results in terms of rankings," said Martijn van Dooremalen, who devised the replacement.

"The new system will give players and coaches the ability to calculate in advance the value of each tournament and to predict their ranking from the results, added Dooremalen, Technical Director of the Dutch Badminton Association.

The new system is also a culmination of two years work by the IBF Ranking Working Group, chaired by Heather Nielsen. It will ensure that points will be awarded according to the grading of each tournament and how far players progress in each tournament.

Previously ranking points depended on the rankings of the players involved. Now instead there will be bonus points for beating a higher ranked player.

These are arguably the most important reforms, although there are many others. For instance top players will be encouraged to enter at least eight tournaments by a points averaging which takes place after they have competed in eight.

There isa time reduction clause after 13 weeks of the qualifying period (April, 1995 until March 31, 1996) to encourage participation throughout the 12 months.

However there has been criticism of this ingredient from the Badminton Players Federation, which had recommended no time reduction.

Retiring BPF chairperson Gill Clark, said that members had been unhappy that not 'all of the federation's requests had been met. The BPF is now asking that the severity of the points percentage value against time be reduced before the new system begins, and that the time reduction clause be eliminated altogether after the Atlanta Olympics.

Nevertheless the BPF pronounced itself "happier with the new system than the old."

-- World Badminton Vol 23 No 1 Mar 1985