Someone told me today that my serve looks dodgy. More specifically, when I'm touching the shuttle, the racket is supinated (facing upwards), where it's supposed to face forward (the net). I've never heard of such a rule; I heard about: - Angle of the racket shaft - pointing down. - Touching the shuttle below the ribs. - New experimental rule: Touch the shuttle 1.15m from the ground with no other restrictions. Anyone heard about that?
The reasoning I was given was that the shuttle follows where it points. So while you hit it straight, if it points upwards, it would go upwards. It kinds of makes sense, and I'm not sure how's the height of the person would affect the shuttle trajectory to become an arc anyway.
Ask the person which rule are they referring to in the rule book. Then come back to this thread with their reply.
I was hoping that the nice German guy (with the glasses) would come and tell me that there's no such thing, never was, and it's nonsense. By the way, what does "experimental" mean? Is this the new rule that we should go with or do we wait until..?
There's only so much one can offer. Get your acquaintance to explain exactly which rule they have a problem with and why it applies to you.
Download the laws of badminton and ask them to show the rule they are talking about. And that's all there is about the service.
My understanding of your description was that the racket face can't face upwards and must be facing to the net. Therefore even with the natural flight of a raising shuttle cannot get over the net, given the lower hitting point of the serve (under the old rules). Not to mention you couldn't do any flick serves. Sounds like he was maybe giving general advice for a short serve, but if he's not, as others pointed out, get him to point out the rule he thinks you're breaking. Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk
Okay, I think I got all the answers I need, especially what @speCulatius pointed out. Rule 9.1.6 is the relevant one, and the note says that reverting to the old rules pertains only to the shaft angle. Looks like some of you disagree that hitting the shuttle horizontally while the cork is pointing to the ground would create an arced flick serve. I'll test that next time.
There is also a rule where your feet must be touching the floor at all times until you have hit the shuttle and you can also not drag your foot in the process. the serve must be one continuous motion so you cannot bring the racket to and from the shuttle multiple times before serving you cannot hit the feathers on impact unless the cork is hit at the same time during the serve.
Got a feeling it's from mine. Think there's a misunderstanding between Op statement and at least my understanding of what he means...
There's no such thing, never was¹, and it's nonsense - as everybody else has correctly pointed out. Sorry, been busy this week, but finally back on court on a more regular schedule. ¹ We don't really have good records of badminton rules before ~1940 - the first international badminton federation, then named IBF (what is now BWF), was founded in 1934. The rule cited by the someone may have been in effect in some local club before that.
Oh, I forgot: Experimental means that tournaments or leagues can opt in to this rule. By default, the normal rules apply, i.e. during the service the shuttle must by lower than the lowest rib when struck. BWF has opted in most of the tournaments they organize themselves (i.e. the most of the tournaments you tend to see on TV / YouTube). For instance, the World Championships and the upcoming Singapore Open play under the experimental service laws. In a national-level competition, it depends on whether the national federation - or the tournament/league organizers - have opted in to these laws. As changing the laws is much more problematic for a full federation rather than a professional league, I am not aware of any federation having opted in so far. So practically, unless you are playing in a professional setup with umpires, you are almost certainly playing under normal rules. Specifically, the New Zealand badminton federation just links to the BWF laws on their website, so if you are playing in NZ the normal rules count. Sanctioned tournaments and leagues (e.g. your state championship) can ask the national federation to play under the experimental rules, but it would be very exceptional for them to do so. High-level national-level leagues with international players must apply directly to BWF. For instance, the German Bundesliga applied to use the experimental 5x11 scoring system (but not the fixed service height rule). In a private tournament or match, the organizers can of course introduce custom rules, including using the experimental or even other service rules. Apart from modifying the scoring system, such custom rules are extremely rare though.