The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Friday, decided to put an interim ban on the new spin serve ahead of the 2023 Sudirman Cup.
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In a statement released by the BWF, their president Poul-Erik Hoyer said,
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. 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 27 May 2023. BWF also wanted to avoid a scenario where the upcoming TotalEnergies BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2023, and other international tournaments, could be platforms to test the new ‘spin serve’ and ultimately disrupt the competitions.
As such, BWF Council felt it best to impose this experimental variation to disallow the ‘spin serve’ until BWF Council convenes again on 29 May for further discussion and deliberation.
What is the new spin serve?
The new variety of spin serve was first used during the Polish Open 2023 back in March.
It was being used by several players across the world and it proved to be extremely difficult to return even for the elite players.
Marcus Rindshoj of Denmark was considered one of the pioneers to have introduced this shot.
In a spin serve, the player holds the cork of the shuttlecock between their middle finger and thumb. Using a motion like a carrom strike, they flick the cork, inducing a spin on it, before hitting it with the racquet.
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Why has BWF banned the new spin serve?
According to the BWF amendment, in a legal serve the racquet should hit the base of the shuttle and propel it over the net in an upward trajectory. The added spin made the serve almost unplayable.
Ahead of the 2023 Sudirman Cup, which kicks off on May 14 in Suzhou, China, the BWF decided to put an interim ban on the serve.
After taking into account the feedback from several quarters including from that of BWF Athletes' Commission, the parent body decided to put a temporary ban on the serve.
The ban will remain until the BWF Council convenes on May 29.
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