The Badminton World Federation will investigate scuffles that
marred last week's men's singles final at the Korea Open and will
consider introducing technologies used in tennis and cricket.
Anne Smillie, chair of the BWF sport committee, has called for a
full report and said such incidents were happening too often.
China's Lin Dan (C) and his
coach (L) argue with South Korea's coach Li Mao from China during
the men's singles final of the Yonex Korea Open Badminton Super
Series against South Korea's Lee Hyun-il in Seoul January 27, 2008.
The argument over a line-call with the referee escalated into a
shouting match between Lin and Li.
Last Sunday's final of the Super Series event between China's
Lin Dan and eventual winner Lee Hyun-il of South Korea featured a
number of line calls overruled by the umpire, which led to scuffles
and heated exchanges.
"All of this is damaging to the image of our sport and
undermines confidence in the results," Smillie said in a
statement.
"Players, coaches, technical officials and team officials at
court side have a code of behavior to follow.
"The game needs to be exciting and closely fought, but we all
want to see the result determined by the players, not by courtside
officials -- or who can argue the loudest."
Smillie said the BWF would look at other options to take the
heat out of official decisions, including technologies used in
tennis and cricket.
BWF deputy president Punch Gunalan said: "In this Olympic year,
when badminton will be under the microscope in Beijing, the players
need to be confident that the game is officiated professionally,
while respecting the technical officials' decisions."
The BWF will hold meetings at the next Super Series event, the
All England Open in Birmingham in March, where the issue of
technology will be discussed.
The sport committee is also talking to referees and umpires to
look at the possibility of having independent umpires operating as
line judges during major semi-finals and finals.
World number one Lin has refused to apologize for his part in
the fracas in Seoul, which began when he threw his racket in the
direction of South Korea's singles coach Li Mao, who is also
Chinese.
The throwing incident sparked a shouting match between Lin and
Li and play was momentarily halted as match officials struggled to
restore order.
(Agencies via China Daily February 3, 2008)
