Hello! Actually, this is a serious topic, especially with the upcoming 3×15 scoring system.
Before talking about apps, organisation, schedules, etc., I’m curious about how tournaments work in general in other countries.
How it usually works in France:
In France, we usually have mixed/singles on Saturday and doubles on Sunday.
For the past two years, we’ve also had what we call “flash” tournaments during the week. They’re shorter, with fewer matches and usually fewer categories (for example, singles only).
I was recently discussing this with a Danish guy. I told him that if he wanted to come to France and play a tournament, he should be aware that if he reaches the final, he might have to play around 5–7 matches in one day.
He was really surprised.
For us, this is pretty normal. 😂
And honestly, that's probably why we tend to hate those super patient/rally-heavy players. 😅
So I'm curious: is this normal in other countries too?
Because physically, it can be pretty crazy.
Imagine playing 5–7 men's singles matches in one day, against players who are close to the French national level. Some of these guys even beat players like Alex Lanier.
And then, if you also entered men's doubles, you're potentially adding even more matches to the day.
The problem is that tournaments nowadays can fill up within days, or sometimes even minutes, months before the tournament.
So once you're registered, you're basically committed.
If you don't show up and you don't have a medical certificate proving you couldn't play, you can receive a warning — and eventually even a temporary ban from tournaments.
📱 The French tournament system
One thing I think we're extremely fortunate to have in France is eBad.
It's an app/platform where you can:
- Find tournaments
- Register directly
- See how many spots are available
- See the ranking requirements
- Check anyone's ranking
- Look at their previous matches
- See how many points you need to reach the next ranking
- Enter your score immediately after the match
Basically, almost everything is centralised and calculated automatically.
And honestly, I think eBad might be one of the best badminton tournament platforms in the world.
The French badminton scene is growing a lot, and the system has evolved really well over the years. It makes organising and participating in tournaments much easier.
🏸 Tournament format
We also have a lot of different ranking categories.
For example, on a men's singles day, you might have around 4–6 different ranking categories, and around 2–4 for women, depending on the tournament.
For singles, most tournaments use groups of three, with usually two players qualifying (sometimes only one).
There is generally one seeded player per group.
The first match is usually between the two lower-ranked players, then the higher-ranked player plays whoever lost that match.
After the group stage, it depends on the number of players in the category, but you can have anything from a Round of 16 to the final.
Sometimes seeded players can even skip the Round of 16 and enter directly in the quarter-finals.
💰 Prize money
Prize money is usually very low, even for the higher-level tournaments.
The winner and runner-up might get a little bit of cash or some local products 😂
(entry fee usually around 20-25€ (22$-30$)
Things like:
- Beer
- Shuttlecocks
- Pastries
- Pâté
- Local products
It's honestly pretty funny, but it's also part of the charm of French tournaments.
⏱️ And the scheduling has improved A LOT
Most tournaments have around 150–400 players, so you can imagine how difficult the organisation can be.
But thanks to the app and years of experience, schedules have become much better.
Nowadays, we generally don't have to wait too long between matches — maybe 40–90 minutes max.
It wasn't always like that.
In the past, you could be convened at 7 AM and still be playing until 11 PM. 😭
So I'm really curious to hear from people from other countries:
How does tournament organisation work where you live?
Do you also play 5–7 matches in a day if you reach the final?
Do you have a national app/platform like eBad?
And how does the scheduling work, especially with the increasing number of matches that will come with 3×15?
Because for pros, and as someone who watches a lot of badminton, 3×15 feels way too short and unpredictable.
But for us, especially in singles, it could be a savior.
Even if you are technically better, or simply better in every aspect of the game, if you play a very long match in 3×21, you can be completely dead for your next matches. By the time you reach the final, you’re basically a zombie. 😂
I even remember one tournament where I reached the final against the #1 seed.
I had to play in a group of four and then start from the Round of 16, while he was the #1 seed and started directly from the Round of 8 after winning his two group-stage matches. (+ add on top he won all of his matches in 2 sets meanwhile most of my matches went 3 sets , basically I end up in final against him with like 3-4 matches more in the legs than him (still manage to win 1rst set tho).
So by the time we reached the final, I had already played several matches, while he had played significantly fewer. The difference in freshness was huge.
And we can't really talk about recovery when you have less than an hour to recover from a one-hour match.
If you remember, Alex Lanier said after winning the Japan Open that it felt “physically easy”. And that makes sense: at International Challenge and French tournaments, even if the obviously the overall level is lower, you still have to play at least two matches in a day.
Still thik that the system is great , but numbers of players are increasing a lot (for past 10 years I had no trouble to sign up for tournaments , and lately now as soon a tournament open , for example 7pm30. Everyone is on his app and in like 5 minutes it's full .
