Marin slams BWF service rule change as 'stupid'

Rio Olympics gold medallist shuttler Carolina Marin on Wednesday slammed Badminton World Federation's (BWF) proposed service rule change as "stupid". It will be implemented from the All England championship next year.

The BWF has decided to trial a new kind of service rule at the 2018 All England Open Championships. This new rule states, "the whole of the shuttle should be below 1.15 metre from the surface of the court at the instant of being hit by the server's racket."

The previous rule, on the other hand, states that the shuttle must be below one's waist when it is hit. To be precise, the maximum height is with the lowest part of one's ribcage.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the third edition of the Premier Badminton League (PBL), the Spanish star said: "The problem would be for the doubles players, not so much for the singles. May be it is something bit of stupid to do it but lets see how it works. It will affect players who are very tall."

Commenting on her season, where she finished runners-up in three of the four Superseries finals, Marin said: "It was a good year. I had to recover from injury after Olympics. It was a tough moment for me and I couldn't practice and had to play tournaments. But now this year is done and I am looking forward to more titles next year."

Marin, who slipped to the fourth spot in the BWF rankings and was also forced to withdraw from the season-ending World Superseries Finals in Dubai due to a hip injury, is now focussed on regaining the No.1 position.

"It is really difficult to be at the top consistently. I feel it is impossible. But I want to keep improving myself and go to the top," said Marin, who will turn out for Hyderabad Hunters in the PBL this season.

The third edition of the PBL will have eight teams with 80 players, including eight World Championship medallists and nine Olympic medallists, competing over 23 days across Guwahati, Delhi, Lucknow, Chennai and Hyderabad.

--IANS

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