Badminton and Skirts

Saina Nehwal feels the badminton federation will be forced to drop the skirts rule after a couple of months

If Leena Chandavarkar had to shoot ‘the baddy song’ Dhal Gaya Din today, she wouldn’t be able to wear a pink salwar kameez. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has decided that women players must wear skirts from now on in events of Grand Prix or higher classification. The motive behind this rule is ‘to ensure attractive presentation of badminton’ (in other words, higher TRPs). The rule takes effect from 1 June.

S Selvam, a BWF official, says the move was prompted by badminton’s sinking popularity. “We did a review of major BWF events by an international marketing agency… Some of the findings were that fans found the sport boring, the attire boring and they recommended that maybe we should introduce skirts for women.”

The players are not happy. They do not mind the effort to sizzle up the game, but do not like something being made mandatory. Besides, many of them, like India’s Saina Nehwal, are more used to playing in shorts. But Nehwal thinks that the BWF will be forced to drop the rule after a couple of months. “Badminton is a lot about jumping and running across the court. Once players start getting uncomfortable doing this while wearing skirts, I am sure they will fight against the rule together.”

Nehwal also feels that pictures of players in skirts would cause a controversy, leading authorities to change their minds.

Like other players, the ever rebellious Jwala Gutta objects not so much to the skirts but to their being compulsory. “You can’t force anyone to become more glamorous. Perhaps, they can ask sponsors to design better clothing, like the tennis girls wear,” says the 2010 Commonwealth Games doubles gold medallist (partnering Ashwini Ponappa). “They should make nice dresses like what (Maria) Sharapova wears, and so we can wear such clothes,” she feels.

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