LONDON, Jan 17: The Commonwealth Games badminton events in Melbourne will use a new best-of-three, first to 21-points scoring system (3x21), the International Badminton Federation (IBF) said on Tuesday.

An IBF council meeting in Kuala Lumpur last month approved the dropping of the traditional (3x15) method and experimenting with the new system from February 1 at all its events.

Now Commonwealth Games organisers have also opted for the 3x21 format at the March multi-sports event.

Under the revised system, points are scored on every rally and not, as at present, by the serving side only.

“The IBF is confident that the new scoring system will create a more exciting game for spectators and be more appealing to the media, especially television,” the federation said in a statement released on Tuesday

IBF deputy president Punch Gunalan told the federation’s Web site: “The Melbourne decision follows on the success of the Chinese Masters event that was held in the new format in December 2005. The IBF Council is confident this would be the scoring system to be used for the next Olympics.”—Reuters