Is it legal to play with 2 racquets?

Discussion in 'Rules / Tournament Regulation / Officiating' started by catman, Jan 11, 2014.

  1. catman

    catman Regular Member

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    I saw a mixed doubles match, where the man was in the back court smashing, breaks a string, the lady runs off gets another racquet - now she has 2 in her hands - the man keeps playing with the broken racquet for about 3 shots - then she gives him the other one.

    So in the middle of the point the lady had 2 racquets in her hand - is this legal?
     
  2. leo11

    leo11 Regular Member

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    I believe you are talking about Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei from China.[TABLE]
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    Well, you already saw that. It was legal.
     
  3. Thom_bad

    Thom_bad Regular Member

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    Is there any video of this ?
     
  4. mater

    mater Regular Member

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    I remember that, it was cool to watch as she ran out and came back in, ready to switch out.
     
  5. Fidget

    Fidget Regular Member

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  6. catman

    catman Regular Member

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    Oh yeah, that's true...a pro did it. Wonder if someone can play with both hands - if there is an advantage in having a racquet in each hand - forehands all the time.
     
  7. CantSmashThis

    CantSmashThis Regular Member

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    Believe it or not, I have brought it up to a few umpires and had a discussion about it. Technically the rule book does not explicitly state "You can only play with 1 racket." I've thought about bringing up the topic here as well. The thing is, the rulebook for badminton is very short (at least compared to other sports). It's only 13 pages long. American sports such as Major League Baseball has 132 pages, tennis has 37, National Football League, 120 pages etc.

    So I feel like it is up to the umpire to determine how strictly or loosely they interpret the rule book. The only thing close that you can bring up, is that the rulebook states racket in singular form throughout the book.

    Anyways, the ultimate decision comes down to the referee. Whatever the referee says, goes.
     
  8. craigandy

    craigandy Regular Member

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    In addition to this, even if the ref did allow it you would get faulted on every serve(if you were serving) using two rackets due to forward movement from one racket then the other is not continuous, shaft not pointing downwards, flight of shuttle needs to be upwards from racket 9.1.8 etc. You would always be faulted with one of your rackets so use 2 if you want, it will only put you at a severe disadvantage.
    It would only be possible to win if he served first at the start of the game and it went to 30 where you only need 1 point lead.
     
    #8 craigandy, Jan 12, 2014
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2014
  9. kaki!

    kaki! Regular Member

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    Not true about service fault. You can stack 2 rackets together to serve, then break them up. So there's no fault there.
     
  10. craigandy

    craigandy Regular Member

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    Touche, never thought about stacking, but (for stacking)4.3.1 the racket shall be free of attached objects and protrusions.... Also, I will still get you for a fault on serve with 9.1.4, the server’s racket shall initially hit the base of the shuttle; Which one is the servers racket? I will claim the one that did not make contact with the base therefore fault.

    But we are just back to the racket singular concept stated by CST or you can believe 2 rackets is allowed rendering the rules uninterpretable.
     
  11. catman

    catman Regular Member

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    But doesn't the rule state "server's racket shall make contact" - it did. Rule doesn't say both rackets have to make contact.
    But not sure if stacking would work because of the 4.3.1 rule quoted.
    So need some sort of holster to put in during the serves - like a sword. Maybe a Ninja style behind the back over the shoulder deal.
     
  12. craigandy

    craigandy Regular Member

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    Lol. That's such brilliant idea that it should just be allowed. Gillian Clark "Goodness gracious he's unsheathed another racket!!!!"
     
  13. catman

    catman Regular Member

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    LOL...I can hear her say that now....make sure you get a commission on it as it's your copyright! Proof is right here!
     
  14. gundamzaku

    gundamzaku Regular Member

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    it would be cool to see someone spending twice the amount training both arms perfecting his/her swing/shot :)
     
  15. catman

    catman Regular Member

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    I am told it might be beneficial to work out the other side of the body from your dominant hand. Apparently, racquet sports develop the dominant side and the body starts to develop more muscle mass on that side. My friend started get back problems and the doctor suggested he needs to do exercises with left hand to bring the body back into balance.
    So working out with both hands might be a good thing.
     
  16. drmchsraj

    drmchsraj Regular Member

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    hahhha i can hear her voice already!
    if i were to execute it, just to confuse them, i'd have a hidden button in my racket that changes the color of my racket real fast, and make it look like it's a new one lol.
     
  17. drmchsraj

    drmchsraj Regular Member

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    ahem, yours truly is the 2012 and 2013 defending champion for the 7-pt game match at one of my local neighborhood teams lol. Mind you, it was purely a fun event for the sake of charity.

    Their team had 7 kids below 15yrs (half of them undergoing coaching), 4 very unfit (for badminton, that is!) adults over 45yrs, 2 cute but shy and conscious 18year old girls, a current regional level player and ex-national level player and current coach. There was no way we could divide them into teams of equal strength so we proposed that the matches be shortened and played with their non-dominant hand and everyone loved this fun twist.

    We should form our own league here!
     

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