BWF Council Approves Interim Ban on ‘Spin Serve’ – effective immediately

BWF Council has approved an ‘experimental variation’ to the Laws of Badminton to forbid the use of the new ‘spin serve’. This variation comes into effect immediately and lasts until 29 May 2023, the date of the next Council meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

This experimental variation applies to these tournaments:

• TotalEnergies BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2023
• All BWF sanctioned tournaments in weeks 20 and 21 (17-28 May 2023) including the PERODUA Malaysia Masters 2023 presented by DAIHATSU (week 21).

Please ensure that you circulate this to your team managers, coaches and players.

Wording Changes to Wording

The wording changes relate to Clause 9.1.5 of Section 4.1 of the BWF Laws of Badminton and Section 4.1.1 – Instructions to Technical Officials (ITTO) are listed below.

Amendments to Clause 9.1.5 (see additional / new wording in yellow below) requires the server to release the shuttle without adding spin, and the server’s racket shall initially hit the base of the shuttle.

Failure to adhere to the experimental variation to the Law will result in a fault being called.

Amendments – Additional wording in Yellow

Press Release / Contact

BWF is sending out a press release on the experimental variation.

Please contact Chris Trenholme, Deputy Events Director – Technical Events Management [email protected] if you have any questions on the enclosed.