Kuala Lumpur, May 23 (IANS): A proposal to change the badminton scoring system to best-of-five games of 11 points from the current best-of-three games of 21 points just fell short of gaining enough votes at the annual Badminton World Federation (BWF) meeting held virtually on Saturday.

The proposal put forward by the Indonesian Badminton Association and the Badminton Association of Maldives received 66.31 per cent for and 33.69 per cent against from the 282 votes cast, falling just short of the two-thirds majority required to be approved at the 82nd BWF Annual General Meeting (AGM), the badminton world governing body said in a statement, reports Xinhua.

"Our membership has spoken, and despite the very small margin in which the two-thirds majority was not reached, the BWF respects the outcome to retain the three games to 21 points scoring system," said BWF president Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen, who was confirmed as president for another term unopposed at the AGM.

"It is now the second time such a proposal has not been approved, but I see the fantastic participation of the membership and the decision reached today as an indication that the badminton community is very much engaged in the best interests of the sport during these difficult and challenging times," he said.

BWF, under the leadership of Larsen, has been pushing for the scoring system reform in recent years in a bid to make the sport more attractive to the audience. The proposal had been put to a vote at an earlier BWF AGM but failed to be approved.