After Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of All England Open in the second round on March 15, he lambasted the umpiring standards of the tournament and called it ‘ridiculous’. Srikanth made the statement after the alleged poor umpiring due to which China’s Huang Yuxiang got an edge over the Indian shuttler. He, however, is not the only one who raised this issue. On March 10, doubles player Satwiksairaj Rankireddy raised the same question and posted a video in protest. The video of her serve got massive support on Twitter as well.
Here’s what World’s No.3 badminton player Srikanth had to say after losing the match by 11-21, 21-15 and 20-22 against an unseeded Chinese shuttler –
There were too many service faults in the opening game. I didn’t expect that to happen. Yesterday I didn’t get even one, today it was totally changed. That should not happen in a tournament. There should be a specific rule. The umpire couldn’t find faults yesterday but today the umpire sitting there found too many faults. It is ridiculous.
Here’s the video Reddy posted on her Twitter account –
This is how BWF and service judges have been playing with our career Looks like they don’t really care about our years of struggle and hard work to achieve our goals.
( Not even 1 out of 100 will agree that these are fault serves ) pic.twitter.com/kN8dwIpKDX— sikkireddy (@sikkireddy) March 10, 2018
Clear picture of my service with shuttle contact which is not a fault and this has been called fault during crucial times. This is not the first time happening @bwfmedia do something please pic.twitter.com/3Kn6lIACki
— sikkireddy (@sikkireddy) March 10, 2018
Here’s what the rule says about the serve and how it is assessed –
The whole shuttle shall be below 1.15 meters from the surface of the court at the instant of being hit by the server’s racket. To assess the services, a pole has been set up in front of the judge with two glass panels — placed at a height of 1.15 meters from the court level — fixed atop either side of the pole. There are two dark lines drawn on either side of the glass panels and judges make their judgment looking at the lines when a player serves, which makes it prone to human error.
Poor umpiring led to N Sikki Reddy and Chirag Shetty losing the match by 16-21 21-16 21-23. Here’s how Twitterati supported her –
Yes, indonesia players same with you,
— gosemangat10 (@semangatsatu_10) March 10, 2018
This is so bad… why dont they use any device to detect if its fault or not or Why don’t they use Hawkeye in this service rule for challenge to make it clear where to serve… @bwfmedia Plzzz take some steps
— Saswatkumar09 (@saswatkumar09) March 10, 2018
How can this is a fault??? @bwfmedia
No offense but siki is not tall and yet she got called?? While tall player doesn’t get called lol
Some of indonesian players was got a service fault called 10th times and 11th times on german open ytd— dewi (@dewimsito) March 10, 2018
The worst decision ever in badminton history. Don’t worry @sikkireddy Good day will come soon https://t.co/NjzwpcwUbT
— Anoop Samraj (@anoopsamraj) March 10, 2018
Extremely sad !!
Also the constant intereference of service judge makes the game so boring!!@bwfmedia @BC_Oldhand @BWFScore— Peter (@1p1pp) March 10, 2018
I watched the full match. Even some line decisions were wrong..
— Tarun lohia (@tarunlohia29) March 10, 2018
Thank you @bwfmedia For making badminton so unfair and boring!!
Thank you very much https://t.co/R5XXKTuvuy— Peter (@1p1pp) March 10, 2018
Lagi! Protes keras terhadap aturan servis baru yg diterapkan BWF. Kali ini dari Sikkireddy: “Inilah bagaimana BWF dan Hakim Garis mempermainkan karier kami, terlihat seperti mereka sungguh tidak peduli dgn kerja keras dan perjuangan kami selama bertahun-tahun” #GermanOpenSuper300 https://t.co/MmHwamVqyN
— Bultangholic (@bultangholic) March 10, 2018
See this….A little Girl @sikkireddy raise a right issue@SikkiReddy_FC https://t.co/b1zycoog57
— Kuldeep Panwar (@Sports_Kuldeep) March 10, 2018
Champ @sikkireddy has raised this issue and she has to given an answer. Wrong decisions demoralise players. #badminton https://t.co/m50bUtcC3u
— Sushil Rao (@sushilrTOI) March 10, 2018
Spot on from @sikkireddy to question the fairness of new service rule in badminton. @bwfmedia, is it right to lower the basket in basketball because taller players have an easier time dunking?https://t.co/aGmez7gEc1
— The Bridge (@TheBridge_IN) March 11, 2018
I agree, doesn’t look like faulty serve at all. How do players raise complaints against :
1. Decision in the match
2. A specific rule by @bwfmedia
?
I’m sure players from different countries would be in the same boat. Need to ask for fair assessment & challenges.— Nosy Troller (@nosy_troller) March 10, 2018
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The bizarre service rule has also been criticised by players like P V Sindhu, Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei, Viktor Axelsen and prominent coaches such as Indias P Gopichand and Denmarks Kenneth Jonassen as it puts tall players at disadvantage.
