15 points, 25 seconds: Is badminton getting too intense?

The 10 semifinal matches of the Badminton World Junior Championships in Cairo, Egypt averaged 39.4 minutes. In keeping with the postcard venue, one could build a perfect pyramid with one legit match wrapped up in 17 minutes. This was obviously a men’s doubles slam-fest, where Taiwanese Ping Hsuan Chen and Wei Ting Lee drubbed Hong Kong’s Michaelangelo Njoto and Zhirui Jerry Yu, 15-4, 15-8.

The base of the pyramid had a 59-minute-long three-setter, not particularly knife-edged, where China’s Yi Xin Zang defeated HK shuttler Ip Sum Yau 12-15, 15-10, 15-10.

It wasn’t the first time, but this was a pretty accurate indication of what the 15-point format, which kicks in in December 2027, might deliver. Yes, there could be the ‘come, win, go’ in 17 minutes. But retrieving players can well stretch the 15×3 format to the hour mark, ruining broadcasters’ ideas of scrunching anything that is moving images into their randomly imagined capsule time. So, women’s singles can hit the 60-minute mark, as defenses get sturdier.

On finals day, men’s doubles was once again the shortest, with the Taiwanese winning the title in 23 minutes, while both singles took an identical 47 minutes; the Malaysian women’s doubles wrapped up in 41 and mixed doubles hit the 50-minute mark. Indonesian Habibi and Mukti played two exciting sets, winning the decider from three match points down after making heavy weather of the first to win 17-15, 8-15, 16-14 – two extra points needed. Leave it to Gen Z, and they can happily contrive to take it all the way to 21-19 anyway, and make the mid-set a glorified breather – just like the 21-pointer.

41-minute average

Quite early in the piece, even before the scoring format was voted in, PV Sindhu had shown foresight, stressing that things were about to turn trickier. Conventional belief was that older players would extend their careers given the shortened matches, with less exertion. But Sindhu reckoned it would just get more intense, with no breathing space to worm their way into a match. The 15-point game is simply hitting top gear quickly and staying high-pressed because the endgame fetches up within no time.

No leeway to ease in means greater strain on the body for a longer high-intensity period. Mix that with fall-back sturdy defenses, and badminton is pretty much back to Square 1, in a wrapping that’ll get yanked off like a gift cover; the gift being a jack-in-the-box face-puncher. The veneer of ‘fast, exciting’ will peel off, and broadcasters will start muttering again.

Up north of the Nile, into fairytale land of Odense for the Denmark Open, another rule change was underway, making badminton even more blistering. The 25-second shot clock would start ticking as soon as the shuttle hit the floor, summoning players to get ready for the next rally. Data folk very grandly explained that an average re-assemble time tended to be 22 seconds, so 25 was generous.

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But a bunch of players at the Super 750 were first summoned to hurry up, and later generously carded off their equilibrium as they exceeded the 25-second snappy clock. It is not as cruel as muting Oscar acceptance speeches, but strict enforcement for both serving and receiving will further pile on the intensity of the already-frantic 15-point game.

Shuttlers will get used to this too – as they need to. But the 15 & 25 together aren’t exactly looking like they can help gloss over the surfeit of tournaments which is the original problem with the Tour. It needs a larger sample size, but there’s good reason to believe a straight-sets win over 21 points might’ve been quicker to finish with that cadence of intensity than a 15-pointer drawn out into three because it’s likelier to force deciders.

India’s Jagsher Singh Khangurra conceded he was bested by the better stamina of Indonesia’s Wardhana – so badminton isn’t shrugging off its core of endurance any time soon. Maybe the seniors will play this out differently. But a format that can run 14 minutes or 59 has a random whimsy about it that makes these last few months of the 21×3 seem wistful.

A far better viewing spectacle? Alex Lanier’s coach amplified on the boom mic as he tried to decipher Kidambi Srikanth’s net play. That popcorn had crunch.