Badminton should bring in a new format without disrupting the existing system: Padukone

Starting 2027, badminton will replace the long-standing 3×21 format with the 3×15 scoring system, with the sport’s governing body betting on the latter’s perceived ability to bring greater excitement and improve player welfare by shortening matches.

But the legendary Prakash Padukone felt that a middle path could have been found. Speaking on the sidelines of an event to announce a partnership between Padukone School of Badminton and Shriram Finance here on Tuesday, the 70-year-old drew a parallel with cricket to buttress his point.

“Try both, like you have T20 cricket, 50-over matches and Tests. Why can’t we do that in badminton? It has been played for 15 to 20 years and people are used to it. Let it continue.

“Bring in the new format without disrupting the existing system. Maybe start with five or six tournaments in a year and slowly bring it up. Some players will choose one format over the other and start specialising,” the former All England champion added.

While it remains to be seen how the Indian players adapt, Padukone stated that they should be winning more tournaments.

On Sunday, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the Singapore Open doubles title, their first crown since 2024. Since July 2022, P.V. Sindhu has just one singles trophy — Syed Modi International in December 2024.

And no Indian men’s singles player has won an elite Super 1000-level championship since K. Srikanth at the 2017 Denmark Open.

“They need to be much more consistent, considering the kind of support they get,” Padukone said. “They should not be happy winning just one tournament. Even if the ranking goes down, it doesn’t matter. People will remember trophies, like All England and the Olympics.

“Rankings are important but you should win big tournaments and achieve the No. 1 ranking. Not by playing more tournaments and reaching quarterfinals and semifinals. That’s my view.

“Look at tennis. (Roger) Federer, (Novak )Djokovic, (Rafael) Nadal, (Jannik) Sinner and (Carlos) Alcaraz… they all win big tournaments, reach No. 1 and are remembered”.