Scoring

The scoring system in badminton has evolved over the past few years. Due to a change in the regulations in 2006, both players are now permitted to score points during a rally, regardless of who served.

All games in adult competitive matches are played in a best-of-three series. A player needs to score 21 points to win the game. However, if the score is tied at 20-20 (or 20-20), you must win by two points to win the game. Contrary to other sports, however, if the score is 29-29 (or 29-all), the winner will be the man or team who scores the final point.

Rules

• The best of three games, each worth 21 points, constitutes a match.
• A rally is scored as one point for the player or pair that wins it.
• At 20, the game is won by the person or couple that first takes a 2-point advantage.
• The team scoring the 30th point wins the match when the score is 29.
• The player or winning pair gets the first serve in the next game.
• In a badminton match, either two opponents (singles) or four opponents (doubles) compete (images).
• The official court measurements must be used to play a competitive match indoors.

Officials

To respect the Laws of Badminton and Competition Regulations in the BWF Statutes, the referee is in charge of the whole badminton tournament or championship that a match is a part of.

Six officials are needed for all singles matches:

An umpire who oversees the game, the court, and the area around it
Two line judges are placed at the baseline on either side of the court to determine whether a shuttlecock landed “in” or “out” on the line(s) designated by the service judge.
There must be a total of eight officials for doubles matches. This is the same as the above, although two more line judges are occasionally added (one for each side of the court positioned at the doubles service line).