Birmingham: Malaysia’s national men’s singles coach Hendrawan admitted that the new badminton service rule introduced by Badminton World Federation (BWF) will, undoubtedly, cause inconvenience to World No. 2 Lee Chong Wei at the All England, which will be held from March 14 to March 18, 2018.
According to the new service rule, the shuttlecock should be below 1.15 meters from the surface of the court at the time of being hit from the server’s racket.
Hendrawan told reporters that this would be the first time Lee is playing under the new rule, he was expecting Lee to run into minor problems with the rule.
“Of course, I am a little worried about this new service rule. This is going to be the first time Chong Wei plays under the 1.15-meter rule. Other than that, Chong Wei is well prepared, and his physical condition is good for the tournament,” said Hendrawan.
“I am only a little worried, since this is still a brand-new rule. I don’t want to make unnecessary speculation, let’s just wait and see what happens,” added Hendrawan.
“Regardless, we will try to adapt to the new rules. I hope Chong Wei can stay focused and not affected by this,” said the former World Champion from Indonesia.
BWF tested the 1.15-meter service rule at last week’s German Open and had drawn a lot of criticism from the players, two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan even called the new rule “Ridiculous!”.
The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world’s oldest badminton tournament, dated back to March 10th of 1898, when Mr. Percy Buckley, secretary of the Guildford Badminton Club, organized the first ever Open Badminton Tournament. This tournament was held at the Drill Hall in the center of Guildford and was a one-day event with only doubles being played. The success of that tournament had paved the way for the All England’s inaugural edition, which was held at London’s Horticultural Halls in 1899.
This year’s All England offers a total prize money of USD $1,000,000.
