Kuala Lumpur: In the latest World Ranking System regulations updated by Badminton World Federation (BWF) on June 1,2015, BWF has stepped up their effort to curb match-fixing related to players withdrawal during a tournament.
As noted by BadmintonPlanet.com on April 14, 2015, in order to maximize the number of its own players to play in the Rio Olympics, if players from both sides came from the same country, certain badminton organization would start asking one side of its player/players to grant walkovers, withdrawals or retirements to another side, so that the winner could earn more points or get more rest prior to another match.
The newly added clause to read as follows:
“In the World Championships or a Level 2 event, if a player or pair withdraws or retires from a match played against a player or pair from the same member association they will not receive ranking points for that tournament”
The Level 2 event comprises of Super Series events, such as Super Series Finals (with prize money over USD $500,000), Super Series Premier (with prize money over USD $400,000), and Super Series (with prize money over USD $200,000).
BamintonPlanet.com’s note to BWF:
With this new regulation in place, there would definitely be less walkovers or withdrawal from a match played against players from same country. However, some teams would start switching to another loophole in the regulation in which during a match between players from the same country, certain team would ask one side of its players to play not using their best efforts (a.k.a: to lose a match, but not doing it so obviously). Hope BWF could find a way to fix and close the loophole too.
