KUALA LUMPUR – The world’s oldest badminton championship, the All England Open, which begins today, will feature a distinctive change as the organisers have made the decision to no longer use green courts.
Instead, the tournament, now in its 125th edition at the Utilita Arena Birmingham, will showcase grey-coloured courts for all four courts during the first-round of action today.
Through a 56-second video clip uploaded by the world’s top-ranked shuttler, Viktor Axelsen, on his X account, the Danish champion was seen practising with Singaporean shuttler Loh Kean Yew on the grey-coloured court surface yesterday.
“Hello everyone, as you just saw, I just finished my main court practice here with Loh Kean Yew from Singapore.
“Feeling very good and feeling very excited here in Birmingham. I will play tomorrow (today), probably evening but I don’t know the time yet, but I’m very much looking forward to it.
“Let’s get started and looking forward to a good week,” said Axelsen, who will face Indian player K. Srikanth in the first round at about 11pm.
Although green courts are synonymous with badminton, the use of courts with different colours is not something new.
The World Tour Finals, inaugurated in 2018, featured red-coloured courts, while some tournaments in Europe have also utilised blue-coloured courts, such as the Finnish Open and Slovenia Open.
The All England Championship is one of the four Super 1000-level tournaments in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) calendar and offers crucial ranking points for players to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games in July. – March 12, 2024