Hidayat blasts the new scoring system

He8217;s been at it since 1999 when he was just 17. But now, yet again, the World and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia will hav...

He8217;s been at it since 1999 when he was just 17. But now, yet again, the World and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia will have to wait for another year to fulfill his dream of winning the All-England Championships. At 24, he has already made the finals twice and was hoping to go one better this year. Only, fate had other plans in store.

8216;8216;This is probably one All-England I don8217;t regret missing because I had to prepare for my marriage on February 4,8217;8217; said the former World No. 1 on the sidelines of the Asian Zone preliminaries of the Thomas and Uber Cup qualifiers here.

The only player in history ever to win the Olympic gold and the World Championships, doing so in 2004 and 2005, respectively, Hidayat8217;s ranking has dropped to 10, but that doesn8217;t bother him one bit.

8220;I missed the Swiss and German Open due to a knee injury, apart from missing the All England championship. That has affected my rankings, but I am back,8221; he said. That8217;s bad news for his rivals, especially world number one China8217;s Lin Dan, whom he had thrashed 15-3, 15-7 to become the world champion.

This will be Hidayat8217;s first tournament according to the new rally-scoring system which awards points after every rally and the game is decided at 21. He hardly seemed happy about it. 8216;8216;I don8217;t like the new system at all and so far as I am aware, none of the top players like it either. It8217;s too fast. I am going to take it up with the other players during the Thomas and Uber Cup finals in Japan and see what can be done,8217;8217; he said. Recently, World No 6 Dane Peter Gade Christiansen had blasted the new scoring system as well.

Incidentally, this is Hidayat8217;s first visit to India and he didn8217;t sound too impressed with the arrangements. 8216;8216;Apart from accommodation problems 8212; the rooms aren8217;t quite to my liking because of the faulty cooling system 8211; there is also the problem of birds flying inside the stadium apart from a disturbing draft,8217;8217; he said, before formally ending the interview session.