Updates to Events Regulations

The BWF Council met on Saturday 09 November 2024 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, following five days of Committee and Commission meetings.

The following is a summary of events-related changes to regulations, policies, and procedures as approved by BWF Council.

Regulation Changes – Badminton

Section 2.5 (Table of Offences and Penalties) – A penalty of $500 USD is now applicable to breaches of the Players Code of Conduct, Clause 3.2.6, when a player retires in a match when entering the match knowing he/she is already injured.

Section 5.1 (General Competition Regulations) – Regulations allowing for the movement of seeds within a main draw have been added for applicability to Grade 3 tournaments as of 1 July 2025. These regulations are currently applicable to World Tour tournaments.

Section 5.2.1 (Major Events Tournament Regulations Table)

• BWF World Senior Championships – The BWF will no longer accept entries in doubles events for “Partner Wanted”. It is the responsibility of the Member and its participants to find their partner and submit these names into the entry system.
• World Junior Team Championships – Adjustments to the division of groups and sub-groups have been made for the first stage of competition.

Section 5.3.2 (Time Lines for Tournaments) – Effective in Week 17 in 2025, the ranking date for seeding and the seeding date for main and qualifying draws for Grade 3 and Junior International Tournaments will move to one week before the start of the tournament (same as draw date).

For World Tour tournaments, the ranking date for seeding the qualifying draw and the date for qualifying draw seeding will move to one week before the start of the tournament.

Section 5.3.6 (Player Commitment Regulations) – Regulations were added clarifying the use of protected ranking points for doubles events.

Section 5.3.9 (Eligibility and Processing of Entries for World Championships) – The size of the women’s singles entry for the BWF World Championships is increased to 64 (from 48).

This is applicable to the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2025.

Regulation Changes – Para Badminton

Section 4.1.1.1 (Para Badminton Instructions to Technical Officials) – An adjustment was made to the process for knockout draw management.

Section 4.1.7 (Additional Equipment for Para Badminton) – An adjustment has been made to the wording for Wheelchair Seating position.

Section 5.5 (Para Badminton General Competition Regulations) – Updates to forced withdrawal at Para Badminton World Championships and prize money administration.

Section 5.5.5 (Para Badminton Classification Regulations)

• Medical documentation for classification must now be submitted six weeks prior to the tournament start date.
• A classification fee of USD50 has been introduced. This fee must be paid six weeks prior to the tournament start date.
• Please check the Para Badminton Calendar for 2025 tournaments at which classification will take place.

Section 5.5.10 (BWF Para Badminton World Circuit Regulations) – Updates to prize money and competition draws have been made.

Policy and Procedural Changes – Medical

Medical Emergency Intervention – The Tournament Doctor is now allowed to enter the court without the direction of the referee in cases of suspected cardiac arrest or suspected concussion with blackout.

This change is reflected in Section 4.1.1 (Instructions to Technical Officials), Section 4.1.1.1 (Instructions to Para Badminton Technical Officials), and in updated versions of Tournament Doctor Guidelines.

The BWF remains committed to protecting the health and wellbeing of all players and have begun a process to consider possible additional first aid protocols and tools to implement at tournaments, plus guidelines for first aid education of tournament personnel.

The BWF also encourages all Members to conduct regular health monitoring of players in their high-performance structures as a proactive preventative measure.

Elimination of cold spray allowance during a match – The allowance of one cold spray per player per match, provided by the Tournament Doctor, is eliminated. Furthermore, the Tournament Doctor will not be providing cold spray to players during intervals.

Players can still apply cold spray to themselves (or by a team medical staff member) but only during intervals.

Rules of AirBadminton

Section 4.2 (Rules of AirBadminton) – The Rules of AirBadminton are now confirmed for use in BWF sanctioned tournaments.

More Information / Contact Person

 Please refer to the attached documents for summaries of all approved changes for badminton and Para badminton.

To access specific Sections of the BWF Statutes, please refer to the Statutes page of the BWF Corporate website at: https://corporate.bwfbadminton.com/statutes/

Please contact Events Director – Technical Operations, Christopher Trenholme ([email protected]), should you have any questions.