hitting the the net with my racket but very late, do they get the point?

The important thing in this situation is wether the shuttle is still in play or not. Shuttle is out of play when it touches floor or net. Until than - if you make a fault it's a fault. If in your case shuttle touched the net and it was before you did - than the point is yours, otherwise, you are at fault even if shuttles wouldn't go over the net.

 

Correction: it must hit the floor.

Whether it hits the net doesn't matter. It can hit the middle of the net, slide up and over the net and it is still in play (this happens regularly on a low, hairpin net shot for example).

If you touch that net ANY time between the service and the shuttle hitting the floor, whoever hit the net loses a point. Keeps it simple, and means you don't need any extra judgement on whether a shuttle was going to go over the net or not.

An extreme example of why it must hit the ground is as follows: if in the original example the shuttle was going to hit the middle of the net and your opponent was going to lose the point, he could whack the middle of the net instead to lower it artificially and let the shuttle pass.

 

Sorry, that is not correct:

Ok, if the shuttle goes up the net, than it is not out of play, but we do not discuss this situation here..

 

Fair. I'm surprised there is even a section to say if it hits the net/post and starts moving towards the strikers side of the net that the shuttle is out of play.

It makes you wonder what could have happened between the shuttle bouncing off the net/post towards the striker, and hitting the ground to warrant such a rule.

A particularly hard smash on the net cord, sending it bouncing upwards and tumbling, where the shuttle centre of mass is heading to the striker, but then it tumbles on the net, which pulls it over to the other side due to the head being heavier than the feathers? You'd need some pretty good cameras to tell it was bouncing back to the strikers side before it tumbled and fell on the other side though.

 

Easy. If you hit the net while the shuttle is still in play it's a fault.

 

Just to make it clear the rule says that if the shuttle hits the net and start falling on the side of the player who hit it previously - not the other player who touched the net trying to return the shot .

The rule is quite simple actually - shuttle out of play when it: 15.1 strikes the net, 15.2 hits the surface of the court or 15.3 a fault or let occurred. These are all the situations that stop the game as should be.

The 15.1 "shuttle strikes the net" is important, as in judging - it's all about sequence of events. Striking the net is an event that clearly shows that shuttle is not going to go over the net. If shuttle touches the floor is the same. Shuttle not going over the net but still in the air is not an event that is very clear because it still might go over sometimes and it does not have any point in time...

 

No, no - you were correct, just missing one small possibility

 

That is why the rule say "start falling towards the surface of the court on the striker's side of the net". It will never go up the net if it started falling down, so it's not so difficult to tell. If the shuttle does go over the net than it's a fault of the player who touched the net, no problem there ether.

 

I was thinking of a very, very convoluted. Can't think of the right word. But in any case, a scenario that could happen but very very unlikely to.

Say the smash went straight onto the net cord such that the shuttle rises exactly vertically above the net cord.

If the shuttle were to now drop, with the point exactly facing down, the shuttle would hit the net cord again and it's would be 50/50 whether it's on the strikers side or not. However, it would still be in play because it's not heading to the striker's side.

Take the same scenario where the shuttle doesn't fall exactly downward. You can have a scenario where the shuttle is at a 45 degree angle cork facing upwards, and although the cork is pointing to the strikers side, it could easily bounce and end up on the other side. I.e. the shuttle would be considered out of play by the rules, even though it ultimately ended up on the non-striker's side of the court.

That assumes the corked side is the side that determines whether it's heading towards the strikers side or not.

My point is that it would be simpler simply not to have rule 15.1, as I believe 15.2 covers it already. Are there any realistic situations you can think of where rule 15.1 would have to be called upon because 15.2 was insufficient?

 

Read the full rules - the case where it starts falling towards the strikers side of the net is ONLY after it hits the net or net post previously. Otherwise rule 15.2 is the relevant rule - shuttle is out of play when it hits the surface of the court (and only when it physically touches it).

 

I would say, in this situation, since shuttle did not fall down after hitting the net but going up - than it still in play. When after that it starts falling clearly on the striker's side - than it is out of play. It is a very rare situation and I think still the rule 15.1 works here.

In most cases though it just falls down straight after hitting the net. There is no reason to fault the other side for touching the net as the shuttle clearly wasn't going over. No need to dismiss the rule .

 

In this case touching the net is a fault as the shuttle is still in play - it didn't start falling on the striker's side and the person touched the net had still chance to return it. I have seen people returning impossible shuttles without touching the net. it could be a sliced lift or return from below the net, So yes - it it's over the net, it can be returned and touching the net is a fault.

 

Well done @ralphz explaining why 15.1 is important! .

The updated rules book is located here : http://bwfcorporate.com/regulations/ . Use "Laws of Badminton" link for main badminton rules PDF, but also very important "Recommendations to Technical Officials (RTTO)" file. That is the best place to check most resent rules as in other locations files are not updated and especially a problem can arise if using outdated and therefore incorrect rule numbers...