Bad blood in badminton

[Serendibb]

This is taken from the Sydney Morning Herald - www.smh.com.au

Bad blood in badminton

A match official talks to Geoffrey Bellingham after the New Zealander received a red card for abusing Australian player Stuart Brehaut.
Photo: Iain McGregor

Australia has won through to its first Commonwealth Games badminton semi-final in eight years, beating New Zealand in controversial circumstances today.

Men's doubles pairs Ashley Brehaut and Travis Denney beat Geoffrey Bellingham and Craig Cooper in a three-game thriller. The duo took out the match after Bellingham was given a red card for swearing, after accusing Brehaut of cheating.

At 19-19 in the third game, Bellingham yelled: "You're a f***ing cheat Brehaut", and the umpire awarded Australia a point. Bellingham later said he believed Brehaut's drive serve was illegal.

The Aussies went on to win the next point to secure their place in the semi-final. The match had earlier been disrupted when a technical glitch caused the lighting to pulsate.

The Kiwis won the first game 22-20 before the Australians took the second 21-16.

Australia last made it into a badminton semi-final at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998.At that point, the third and fourth-placed teams were both awarded a bro nze medal and did not have to play-off. This is the first time the lower teams have had to play for bronze.

Brehaut said he learnt to do a "drive" serve while training in Malaysia and there was nothing illegal about it. He said he knew Bellingham found it difficult to return and it was stupid for him to react in that way.

"If I'm cheating well then the umpire will call it, so as far as I'm concerned it's in the laws, we just try and push those boundaries," he said.

"You're in the Commonwealth Games, you've got everyone here, a lot of families and he comes up and says, ... I believe the words were: 'You're a f***ing cheat Brehaut'.

"But if he wants to do that, that's up to him. I'm not going to go down to his level."

"I'm not going to start anything like that. It's just a joke."

"It was a stupid thing by him."

Bellingham said he regretted making the comments but stuck by his cheating allegation.

"In badminton you have got to keep the racquet below the waist (and he didn't)," he said afterwards.

"He won five points in a row and that's just cheating."

"Unfortunately you are not allowed to call him a cheat, which is what I didn't realise."

Australian coach Claus Poulsen said he knew the Kiwis had struggled with Brehaut's serve in the past. "We talked about (it and decided) just use the serve because as long as they don't call it a fault, it's a fantastic serve, the drive serve," he said.

Poulsen said this was an important win, as it would help raise the profile of the sport in Australia. "It's all their work, it's fantastic," he said.

AAP

[jump_smash]

SMH
http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/bad-blood-in-badminton/2006/03/24/1143083969419.html

FOX
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,18586980-23209,00.html?from=rss

Foul language mars victory
By Charisse Ede
March 24, 2006

AUSTRALIA won through to its first Commonwealth Games badminton semi-final in eight years today, but the victory over New Zealand was marred by "dodgy" serves and foul language.

FOX
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,18586943-23210,00.html?from=rss
Bad light delays badminton finals
March 24, 2006

A LIGHTING problem has delayed the badminton quarter finals at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

The lights at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre began pulsating about 12.25pm (AEDT), halting play on all three courts.

The Australian men's pair of Ashley Brehaut and Travis Denney were part-way through their match against New Zealand's Craig Cooper and Geoffrey Bellingham at the time.

The problem was partly rectified within 10 minutes, enabling play to resume on two courts, including the Australia-New Zealand match.

But part of the lighting on court three remained off for 20 minutes, causing a significant delay in the women's singles quarter final between Scotland's Susan Hughes and Fan Frances Liu of Singapore.

[tze yang]

OH! i was just gona start a topic about craig cooper's(bellingham's partner) serve that i saw in that match...it looks like he served from his chest!!lol seriously his waist cnt be that high up...and now...they complain bout aussies serve...anyone watched that game?

[Sammy]

This is taken from the Sydney Morning Herald - www.smh.com.au (http://www.smh.com.au)

Bad blood in badminton

A match official talks to Geoffrey Bellingham after the New Zealander received a red card for abusing Australian player Stuart Brehaut.
Photo: Iain McGregor

Australia has won through to its first Commonwealth Games badminton semi-final in eight years, beating New Zealand in controversial circumstances today.

Men's doubles pairs Ashley Brehaut and Travis Denney beat Geoffrey Bellingham and Craig Cooper in a three-game thriller. The duo took out the match after Bellingham was given a red card for swearing, after accusing Brehaut of cheating.

At 19-19 in the third game, Bellingham yelled: "You're a f***ing cheat Brehaut", and the umpire awarded Australia a point. Bellingham later said he believed Brehaut's drive serve was illegal.

The Aussies went on to win the next point to secure their place in the semi-final. The match had earlier been disrupted when a technical glitch caused the lighting to pulsate.

The Kiwis won the first game 22-20 before the Australians took the second 21-16.

Australia last made it into a badminton semi-final at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998.At that point, the third and fourth-placed teams were both awarded a bro nze medal and did not have to play-off. This is the first time the lower teams have had to play for bronze.

Brehaut said he learnt to do a "drive" serve while training in Malaysia and there was nothing illegal about it. He said he knew Bellingham found it difficult to return and it was stupid for him to react in that way.

"If I'm cheating well then the umpire will call it, so as far as I'm concerned it's in the laws, we just try and push those boundaries," he said.

"You're in the Commonwealth Games, you've got everyone here, a lot of families and he comes up and says, ... I believe the words were: 'You're a f***ing cheat Brehaut'.

"But if he wants to do that, that's up to him. I'm not going to go down to his level."

"I'm not going to start anything like that. It's just a joke."

"It was a stupid thing by him."

Bellingham said he regretted making the comments but stuck by his cheating allegation.

"In badminton you have got to keep the racquet below the waist (and he didn't)," he said afterwards.

"He won five points in a row and that's just cheating."

"Unfortunately you are not allowed to call him a cheat, which is what I didn't realise."

Australian coach Claus Poulsen said he knew the Kiwis had struggled with Brehaut's serve in the past. "We talked about (it and decided) just use the serve because as long as they don't call it a fault, it's a fantastic serve, the drive serve," he said.

Poulsen said this was an important win, as it would help raise the profile of the sport in Australia. "It's all their work, it's fantastic," he said.

AAP

Drive Serve? Never heard of it before. How is it done?

[ZeFrenchy]

Drive Serve? Never heard of it before. How is it done?

It's like a low serve to the back of the court, but it's a lot flatter and just goes over the net but it's hit with the same force.

Basically aim for the opponents face and hope they don't hit it back.

[phaarix]

Because all Australians are such good sports right?

Seriously, you guys really will jump at any chance to point out our every mistake won't you? If not, why post this? *sigh*

[wl2172]

Agreed, lets stop this post here please.

[Sammy]

It's like a low serve to the back of the court, but it's a lot flatter and just goes over the net but it's hit with the same force.

Basically aim for the opponents face and hope they don't hit it back.

Wow! To do that without raising the racquet above the waist sound impossible

[jcl49]

There were a few high servers during the games, where the service judges did not intervene. A guy in the Kiwi mixed doubles team (can't remember his name) raised his racquet a little higher than allowable. His service action was to start at the waist (legal hight) and before striking the shuttle he leant back - raising his racquet (illegal hight).

[dlp]

I've noticed a lack of service faults being called, at the same time the umpires seem keen to get involved when they shouldn't, stopping players changing shuttles even when both players want to!

[Sammy]

I've noticed a lack of service faults being called, at the same time the umpires seem keen to get involved when they shouldn't, stopping players changing shuttles even when both players want to!

I think they are on some tight budget on shuttle and with the bird flu cases shuttle are becoming expensive. Supply less demand high price high...talking about econs. :p:D

[phaarix]

I've noticed a lack of service faults being called, at the same time the umpires seem keen to get involved when they shouldn't, stopping players changing shuttles even when both players want to!

Yeah! I noticed that in the game between John Moody and Anup Sridhar (sorry not sure of spelling). They must have asked about five times before finally getting a new shuttle... At which point the crowd erupted :).

[Mag]

I've noticed a lack of service faults being called, at the same time the umpires seem keen to get involved when they shouldn't, stopping players changing shuttles even when both players want to!

Well, that's part of the new scoring package, isn't it? No breaks until 11, and the umpire decides if a shuttle is to be changed. The purpose being of course to keep playing continuous, and shuttle changing was abused as a way of gaining some extra time to catch your breath. A shuttle change break takes the same amount of time now as before, or possibly longer since the umpires tend to want to have their say, but in the 21x3 matches I've sseen there are now much fewer shuttle changes than under 15x3.

[dlp]

Sometimes you can have a shuttle which isn't right even though the feathers are apparantly intact, the umpire can't necessarliy see if the shuttle is ok. If both players feel the shuttle isn't good they should be able to change.

I don't think that "extra" shuttle changing to gain time was often a big issue under the old system. The umpire still had the last say on whether to change.

I also noticed an umpire told a player they couldn't have the court wiped and told the player to just tread on the pool of moisture! A good umpire is one you don't notice or remember!

[phaarix]

Well, that's part of the new scoring package, isn't it? No breaks until 11, and the umpire decides if a shuttle is to be changed. The purpose being of course to keep playing continuous, and shuttle changing was abused as a way of gaining some extra time to catch your breath...
But when both players want a change, I'm pretty sure it's not just a case of needing a small extra break.


Sometimes you can have a shuttle which isn't right even though the feathers are apparantly intact, the umpire can't necessarliy see if the shuttle is ok. If both players feel the shuttle isn't good they should be able to change.
Couldn't agree more.

[Dreamzz]

i'm quite curious to see how the serve was done before making any comments. can anyone who recorded it post it somewhere please?

[terry]

But as a sportmen foul language should not be used during a competition some more it's international tournament.

[ants]

Not all players are perfect. :) Some even swear at themselves hehehe

[crosscourt]

But as a sportmen foul language should not be used during a competition some more it's international tournament.

I agree. If a player has served the same serve a number of times and the umpir hasn't called a fault then it sounds more like sour grapes to me. You can feel a bit foolish if you can't even return a serve and I imagine the New Zealand player was probably angry with himself.

I know that when I receive one of these low drive serves and I hit it into the net I feel quite annoyed. It's a bit like being aced in tennis only as a badminton players I'm not used to not being able to return a serve.

[david14700]

A drive serve isn't that hard to do, and it's only effective if the receiver isn't expecting it. If he is ready for it, then he'll simply drive it back at you twice as fast, and you're hit at point blank range. That's why it's not used very much.

You'll see some amateur players who do a high drive serve, and it comes at you almost like a smash! But that certainly isn't possible for competitive matches with officials.

I haven't seen this match. Didn't the Kiwi player complain to the umpire first or ask for the referee? I'm surprised a professional player would just blurt out something like that at such a crucial stage of a match. I'd be furious if I was his partner. The chance to get to the semis just two points away and he does that? Very silly.

[cooler]

were there a line judge? Umpire usually dont or can't see well enough to catch service infraction.

[fast3r]

I don't think that the service judges were very good at all, as i noticed a few players with persistently foul serves who did not get penalised. The two obvious ones I noticed were Craig Cooper of New Zealand who looked like he was serving at chest height and Li Yujia of Singapore who clearly did a double action with every serve. Incidentally Li did get penalised once or twice but if it were me I would have called the vast majority of her serves a fault.

[wl2172]

I don't think that the service judges were very good at all, as i noticed a few players with persistently foul serves who did not get penalised. The two obvious ones I noticed were Craig Cooper of New Zealand who looked like he was serving at chest height and Li Yujia of Singapore who clearly did a double action with every serve. Incidentally Li did get penalised once or twice but if it were me I would have called the vast majority of her serves a fault.

agreed, Li also screams too much, and her serves sucks

[FrenziedEye]

I don't think that the service judges were very good at all, as i noticed a few players with persistently foul serves who did not get penalised. The two obvious ones I noticed were Craig Cooper of New Zealand who looked like he was serving at chest height and Li Yujia of Singapore who clearly did a double action with every serve. Incidentally Li did get penalised once or twice but if it were me I would have called the vast majority of her serves a fault.

Hasnt IBF changed the rules of serving??? Umm...I did a junior umpiring course about few months back...

The waist has been re-defined as the bottom of a person's ribcage....

SO THAT IS PRETTY HIGH...

Has anyone heard of that rule or found it on a site? Please let me know thanks. Need to confirm it.

[phaarix]

I haven't seen this match. Didn't the Kiwi player complain to the umpire first or ask for the referee? I'm surprised a professional player would just blurt out something like that at such a crucial stage of a match. I'd be furious if I was his partner. The chance to get to the semis just two points away and he does that? Very silly.

Yeah he did actually ask a few times for the umpire to watch Brehaut's (sp?) serve. Although upon watching the last stages of the match again which I managed to get on tape, I couldn't really see anything wrong with the serve, although the angle they showed it at was pretty poor so I couldn't really judge it too well. He may or may not have been faulting, I'm just not sure.

But Geoff Bellingham... It was wrong of him to have lost it like that, but as ants said, no player is perfect and he could easily have just had a very bad day or something. We don't really know the full circumstances. Bellingham is usually a pretty good guy. But even as a Kiwi, I'm not a huge fan of the way Craig Cooper throws his racquet around and all. Really gives the rest of the team a bad image, which they do not deserve at all.

[cappy75]

If he's drive serving from the chest level and standing near the service line, it's definitely illegal:(. It's even more obvious if he's tall. For a drive serve to be legal, the player has to stand further back in order to get the flat trajectory from the proper service posture.

Like David14700 mentioned, the right response to his drive service would be to put up the racquet and tap it back twice as fast when he serves:p.

I think Bellingham got too bothered about Brehaut's service to do anything about it. Hard to think when emotions get too high.

[Darth Andrianus]

That is absolutely poor behaviour! If the guy has a problem with the opponent's serve, then he can complain with the serve judge and the umpire, there is no need to shout abuse directly at his opponent.

[tze yang]

There are quite a few Kiwis who have really bad attitude on court, john gordon, who is injured once screamed out loud at a line judge, i think twice that match, and i was a line judge for that tourny fortunately not his match lol...

They shouldn't complain too much about little line calls or little things during the game, it only affects their concentration, just keep playing and remain focus

Btw john gordon(injured) is much worse tempered compared to geoff, geoff doesn't lose his cool as much as Gordon does, i wouldnt get near him when he's losing...those of u who watched kiwi badminton b4 would know what i mean...sometimes he really deserves a red card rather than just a warning from the umpire
i prefer players like dan shirley just cool and calm, at least i havent seen him lost it...

[kanive]

It's like a low serve to the back of the court, but it's a lot flatter and just goes over the net but it's hit with the same force.

Basically aim for the opponents face and hope they don't hit it back.

No, it is perfectly easy to do, if you are reasonably tall and/or serve from a couple of feet behind the service line. And you don't have to aim for their face either, you can pass them around elbow height swinging in to the backhand corner of the court. It's not easy to drive it back. The easiest counter is a net corner drop. It is not a high percentage serve, so not something you should try in a rally point situation. But it can be devastating if done right.

Does anyone have video (or at least a sequence of stills) of Brehaut serving? I am also curious -- where does his partner stand?

[Kamen]

Does anyone have video (or at least a sequence of stills) of Brehaut serving? I am also curious -- where does his partner stand?

Were they forehand or backhand?

[Cheung]

Hasnt IBF changed the rules of serving??? Umm...I did a junior umpiring course about few months back...

The waist has been re-defined as the bottom of a person's ribcage....

SO THAT IS PRETTY HIGH...

Has anyone heard of that rule or found it on a site? Please let me know thanks. Need to confirm it.Yes, that needs confirming because the bottom of a person's ribcage is open to wide interpretation.

1) the lowest part of the ribcage is below the umbilicus (even lower than the level of the elbow when the arm is placed to the side)

2) the lower margin of the ribcage extends from the just below the sternum (which is above the umbilicus) and can be traced further down as you move along it's border.

[dlp]

The australian pair were service faulted at least twice on flick serves in the semi

[coops241180]

it's been a funny competition really.

i mean.. i've seen 2 people get faulted on service that i've never seen faulted before. (tracey hallam for lifting a foot?? which is almost unheard of and wouldn't surprise me if she was split stepping.., donna kellog - whose serve looks pretty high, but i'm about 95% certain he action is totally
legal)

totally agree about the singapore girls serve, my brother commented that it looked like a double action.

also one of the indian girls forehand serves was far too flat, hand not clearly above the racquet head.

so currently we have good serves called bad and bad serves called good.

also, the shuttles were painfully slow.. i didn't see any testers but rumour has it they were about 9 inches to a foot short of the doubles high service line..

if this is the case brehauts serve would have been even more difficult to return - he could have driven really hard and the shuttle would have stayed in when normally it would have flown out..

i'd certainly be interested to see it tho..

Coops

[Cheung]

Can't comment myself on the serves (since I'm not watching the action). But the Kiwi outburst did make the sports pages here. That's pretty good considering there's no local interest in the Commonwealth games.

I believe the term is called 'sledging' :p

[LongReach]

Australia cheated? my ass


When NZ played Uganda one of the NZ players had a highly illegal serve that was not picked up.

The taller out of the two was doing it. Striking the shuttle at the height just below his chest!

The top-most part of the head was above the handle.

Most illegal serve I have ever seen and he got away with it every time!

He was a tall player already........why serve like that.

Man the umpires need a kick in the ass for letting that slip.......the ugandans did not even complain.

Biggest load of rubbish illegal serve I have ever seen!

Anyone else who was there see that?

Not biased against NZ but that guys serve was just crap! Absolute cheat serve!

[LongReach]

I don't think that the service judges were very good at all, as i noticed a few players with persistently foul serves who did not get penalised. The two obvious ones I noticed were Craig Cooper of New Zealand who looked like he was serving at chest height


Yeah dude this is what I am on about! Mate that was a ridiculus serve height! How could umpires let that go........everytime?

[cooler]

i know AUS spent alot of money in their national sports program and expected a lot back so the athletes are really pressured to win. When the pressure and maybe money is high enough, cheating is not a surprise. Anyway, NZ (bellingham) shouldn't blow up because he just bot in AUS's trap.

[Wai Shing]

The Kiwis played at the Canadian Open a few months ago...I also remember Craig Cooper serving almost from chest height lol...at the time i just thought it looked bizarre. I dont recall any service judge penelizing him though during any of the matches where I was line judging.

[LongReach]

The Kiwis played at the Canadian Open a few months ago...I also remember Craig Cooper serving almost from chest height lol...at the time i just thought it looked bizarre. I dont recall any service judge penelizing him though during any of the matches where I was line judging.



Yes, it is even more bizarre that he doesn't get penalised. So he will just continue to serve that way.

[phaarix]

I haven't been very impressed with the umpires, service judges etc. of the games.

But yeah, I really hope Craig Cooper, John Gordon etc. improve their attitudes, they're giving us Kiwis a bad name :(.

[manabu]

maybe the service judges themselves should draw a thick line on players' shirts prior to each game around the waist? That should make it easier to spot

[tk009]

i know AUS spent alot of money in their national sports program and expected a lot back so the athletes are really pressured to win. When the pressure and maybe money is high enough, cheating is not a surprise. Anyway, NZ (bellingham) shouldn't blow up because he just bot in AUS's trap.
Cooler it's true our Government does put alot of funding into sports however I dont believe badminton is one of them. I know people who play at state level and I've seen the state training sessions here in South Australia. It's nothing special really the lack of interest and funding Government or commercial really shows. I also dont believe the AIS has a badminton program, all the sports we do do well at people can develop at the AIS. Our swimmers, gymnasts, cricketers, cyclists, basketballers etc get special government scholarships to train at the AIS but that is obviously not the case with badminton which is apparent in Tania's case and the people I know. Maybe if badminton popularity/success things might change... fingers crossed!

[shawn30_k]

well about this drive serve many of my friends have been using this.it does get frustrating at times but its really risky.for top players it is never advisible to do it due to the fact that the players reflexes are quick and can push the shuttle into an attacking position.so i can only say that you just have to get use to this kind of serve from young.and slowly beat it because tactically there is no fault with it unless you hold the racket over the waist.

[dlp]

Totally agree the shuttle were clearly way to slow, some of the singles matches were clearing competitions and even in the mixed the shuttle couldn't be put away.

Yes, there were a couple of girls clearly with double action on serve.

[tze yang]

So i see Im not the only one that noticed craig cooper's serve...

And the shuttle speed is slow?no wonder why tania and all the WS players seems to smash even softer than mine...lol
but surprisingly enough LCW seems to drive the shuttle like a bullet...man how does he do it?and he kills a shot so quickly where if u blink its gone...damn hes fast...

[LongReach]

So i see Im not the only one that noticed craig cooper's serve...


Yeah it is funny how everyone but the service judge saw it! lol:D

[LongReach]

So i see Im not the only one that noticed craig cooper's serve...


Yeah it is funny how everyone but the service judge saw it! lol:D

[ahmadvision]

what the big deal over the swear word..**** it let's move on..hehehe..oops

[Shifty]

But as a sportmen foul language should not be used during a competition some more it's international tournament.

not sure about asia, but over here, everyone joins in the swearing. maybe it's the western violent nature coming through :p:p;) my doubles partner has a tendency to play a lift, then say "SIT!!!!!!!!" and if it goes out, followed by a loud, "F***!!!!!!!!" :eek: everyone just laughs...

[s1nn3r]

not sure about asia, but over here, everyone joins in the swearing. maybe it's the western violent nature coming through :p:p;) my doubles partner has a tendency to play a lift, then say "SIT!!!!!!!!" and if it goes out, followed by a loud, "F***!!!!!!!!" :eek: everyone just laughs...
Too emotionally... i would have hit him with my racquet if I partner him:cool:

[Shifty]

Too emotionally... i would have hit him with my racquet if I partner him:cool:

he's built like a tank, so i'm not sure if it'd help me :p:p:p but i have noticed its usually, the better the player, the better his temper.