Badminton's 5x7 scoring
system to end

Badminton's flirtation with a new scoring set-up is to end after the sport's administrators voted to drop the experimental 5x7 system (best of five games, first to seven points).

From August, all men's singles and men's doubles matches will revert to 3x15 and women's singles will go back to 3x11. Women's doubles and mixed doubles will also be 3x11.

The decision was made after a six-hour debate at an International Badminton Federation council meeting in Guangzhou, China this weekend.

Voting was 12-8, with European members of the council generally disappointed with the decision, the English badminton association said on Sunday.

Badminton has been trialing 5x7 in all its major tournaments worldwide for more than a year, supporters arguing that shortened games provide more frequent crucial points, making it more appealing to television and spectators.

But traditionalists, particularly from Asia, favoured the "slow burn" of 3x15 with the chance to recover from a poor start. A compromise 5x9 proposed by England failed to find favour.

IBF president Korn Dabbaransi told reporters the IBF would now find other ways to popularise the game and make it more television friendly.

The last major event to use 5x7 is expected to be the Commonwealth Games, starting in Manchester, England, on July 25.