i know that it would be illegal to hit the shuttle above the server's waist. but where is consider to be the waist? see the picture below. is it above the waist or not?
I think its a good call. The waist is actually above the hips. From what i can see from the picture. I dont think its a fault serve.
The thing is that waist is not a single line. it is more like an area. so are we taking the top, the bottom or the middle? or is it in badminton that the waist is a well defined thin line
If I recalled correctly, a service judge usually take the 'waist' to be just right under the elbow (which is around the bottom rib). The other thing to remember is that it's the point of contact. Beside point of contact, the service judge will also note whether the racquet head is below the wrist.
AFAIK, there are two standards to judge the waist. bottom of rib - this is what i think is the more accurate location. it is a reference point directly taken from the main trunk of the body. the drawback of it is that it is not available visually. we don't see service judge go press against player's body to find out where the lowest rib is. tip of elbow - someone actually asked an IBF umpire and this seems to be a legitimate alternative to the bottom of rib reference. they pretty much come to approximately the same height. the advantage of this one is that service judge can easily get a visual reference of where the waist is with this method. the draw back is that some ppl have longer arms, some have shorter arms. i happen to have pretty long arm and the tip of the elbow is around 1 inch below the bottom rib.
Thanks WWC, but now I will add to yours. That should be discernibly and the whole head. "9.1.6 the shaft of the server's racket at theinstant of hitting the shuttle shall be pointing in a downward direction to such an extent that the whole head of the racket is discernibly below the whole of the server's hand holding the racket as in Diagram D"
