Bamdinton England's new structure aims to broaden the focus from doubles competition ©Getty Images

Badminton England has announced a new performance structure which will broaden its recent emphasis on doubles and seek to develop "rounded athletes" while moving away from "the objective, results-based methods of selection only".

There will also be more flexibility for players over having to train at the National Centre in Milton Keynes.

The latest initiative follows a shake-up within the organisation, following an independent review that was set up in the wake of controversial selections and a largely unsuccessful performance at last year's Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Following the departure last October of Adrian Christy, chief executive since 2006, the post was filled in March by Sue Storey, and former world number one Morten Frost - who has subsequently served his home country Denmark, Malaysia and South Africa as national coach - was appointed as performance director at the same time.

"I am delighted to finally announce our new way forward," said Frost.

"It is extremely important to me to tell the world we will have a full programme with all five disciplines.

"We will take a long-term view of this project, building the programme to have more depth and better international standing.

"Exciting times are ahead."

Denmark's former world number one player Morten Frost, who took over as Badminton England's performance director in March, has hailed the shift towards developing across "all five disciplines" ©Getty Images
Denmark's former world number one player Morten Frost, who took over as Badminton England's performance director in March, has hailed the shift towards developing across "all five disciplines" ©Getty Images

In July 2021, Rio 2016 bronze medallists Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis accused Badminton England of creating a "hostile" environment after they had failed to secure selection for the Tokyo 2020 Games.

The pairing of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy, preferred to the duo who were also European and Commonwealth champions - reportedly on the basis of their more consistent results and post-2020 potential - went on to lose all three of their group matches.

Langridge told BBC Sport: "Myself and Marcus have been treated like dirt.

"We're the Olympic bronze medallists, the reigning European Games and Commonwealth champions, are ranked higher [than Lane and Vendy] and we still haven't received any verbal communication [from Badminton England] regarding the selection."

Ellis, who went on to reach the Tokyo 2020 mixed doubles quarter-finals with Lauren Smith, added: "All the athletes prepping for the Olympics are now in this hostile, tepid environment where half of us can't even communicate with one another because the waters are that muddied.

"It's happened time and time again where I've seen so many players come through and leave with this really horrible bitter view of the badminton setup in Milton Keynes."

At this summer's Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, England took silver in the men's, women's and mixed doubles thanks respectively to Lane and Vendy, Chloe Birch and Smith and Ellis and Smith.

Toby Penty reached the men's singles quarter-finals, and Freya Redfearn was beaten in the women's third round.

Marcus Ellis, left, and Lauren Smith were strongly critical of Badminton England before last year's Tokyo 2020 Olympics ©Getty Images
Marcus Ellis, left, and Lauren Smith were strongly critical of Badminton England before last year's Tokyo 2020 Olympics ©Getty Images

The new Badminton England structure will create three performance levels of progression - national, futures and development - which will give players across the country the chance of reaching the new national squad at the National Badminton Centre (NBC).

"All squads will now focus on five disciplines and not on doubles only as was previously the case," a Badminton England release said. 

"In a huge shift change for the organisation, subjectivity and expert knowledge will form the backbone of the new structure.

"The aim from the outset will be to develop rounded athletes with the necessary skills and attributes of both an athlete and a person.  

"Moving away from the objective, results-based methods of selection only, players will also be invited onto the squads where selectors see potential.

"This new approach will enable a broader scope of athletes to benefit from our new coaching structure, sports science sports medicine practitioners and train within a greater talent pool of players.

"Our new approach will require those players invited on to the system at the Development and Futures level to have a connection to the NBC, be it on a full-time or agreed part-time basis, running parallel to pursuing their educational studies if relevant.

"For those players moving into Badminton England's top tier National Squad based on solid performance and world ranking, the preferred training base of choice will always be the NBC where we are able to ensure that world-leading support on and off the court can be provided."

"We are delighted to share our vision for the Performance Programme, working with the badminton community to empower players and coaches across England," said Storey.

"The expert knowledge behind the team will be world-class and will enable us to attract and retain a wide range of athletes onto our programme."