In a deciding third badminton game, players normally change ends when one side first reaches 11 points.
Changing ends helps reduce the effect of lighting, air movement and other court conditions. The same principle applies to the standard interval at 11 points: players receive a short break, while coaches may give instruction from the designated coaching area.
Players also change ends after the first game and after the second game. In a best-of-three match, the third game is the deciding game, so the mid-game change occurs at 11 rather than at the end of a completed game.
This rule is different from the overall winning target. A side normally wins a game at 21 points, but the end change in the deciding game happens much earlier, at the first occurrence of 11 points. Officials use the score shown by the umpire to determine the changeover.