New Delhi: Synthetic feather shuttlecocks will be used on a trial basis at select grade three and junior international tournaments, Badminton World Federation (BWF) has decided keeping an eye on its potential use at the senior level in the long-term.
Amid reports of cost escalation of shuttlecocks made from duck or goose feathers and due to shortages of raw materials, BWF took this decision to popularise the game further.
BWF secretary-general Thomas Lund had earlier said shuttlecock manufacturers need to find a way past supply-chain challenges and develop synthetic alternatives quickly.
During evaluation of quality and performace of the synthetic shuttlecocks in higher-level tournaments, BWF will keep an eye flight and playing characteristics in order to meet existing competition standards.
“The trial will include the collection of manufacturer performance data, alongside feedback from players, technical officials, and event organisers,” BWF said on Wednesday.
India’s national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand has last year advocated use of synthetic shuttlcocks to meet growing demand and price controlling measure.
“The dependency on goose feathers, which we have, is a problem we need to address as a sport. The growth of the sport across three populous nations, India, China and Indonesia, has ensured that there is demand for raw material of goose feathers, which has gone up a lot. We need to find alternatives for it,” he had said.
BWF had earlier proposed reverting to a 15-point rally, best-of-three game scoring system in place of the existing 3×21 format in an effort to increase match intensity and decrease match durations.
A formal decision after vote would be taken at BWF’s annual general meeting on April 25 after it was put on trial at select national and international tournaments from April 2025 to October 2025.