Good decision to shelve skirt rule: Jwala

Indian badminton players and officials yesterday welcomed a decision by the sport's bosses to shelve a controversial new ruling that would have forced women to wear skirts or dresses on court.

The new regulation had been due to come into effect on June 1. The sport's governing body, the Badminton World Federation (BWF), met Saturday in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao and decided to shelve the ruling pending a new dress code proposal in December.

"It is a very good decision by the BWF. They couldn't have gone ahead with the mandatory skirt ruling anyways," India's top women's doubles player Jwala Gutta was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency.