Gunalan calls for TV replays and neutral line judges A TOP badminton official has called for the introduction of neutral line judges and the use of television replays to avoid a repeat of the scenes which marred Wednesday’ Asian Games men’ team final. The secretary-general of the Asian Badminton Confederation, Datuk Punch Gunalan, said that the uproar at the final between Indonesia and South Korea should serve as a wake-up call to the game’s authorities. Indonesia staged an extraordinary two-hour walkout of the match after a series of questionable calls by South Korean line judges went against star player Taufik Hidayat. The match eventually resumed and was won by South Korea, but only after lengthy negotiations between tournament officials and the teams taking part. Gunalan said yesterday that he believed part of the problem lay in the badminton rule book, which does not allow a chair umpire to overrule a line call. Wednesday’s final only resumed after officials took the unprecedented step of allowing the umpire to overrule decisions – and Gunalan said it was now time to study permanent changes to the rulebook. “We have to look at options like taking the help of technology to ensure such incidents don’t happen in the future. My personal opinion is that we should take the help of television replays for close decisions,” he said. Gunalan said that badminton should also endeavour to find enough funds to make neutral linesmen a permanent fixture at major tournaments. “The linesmen are always local because of the cost factor,” he said. “But we should also work out our economics better and maybe ensure there are neutral linesmen for matches. I know it will be difficult, but nothing is more important than the game, which will suffer this way.” Gunalan also defended the decision to allow Wednesday’s match to continue with the umpires given the right to overrule line calls. “The suspension of the match was unprecedented because we had wanted the match to be held,” he said. — AFP
I don't think umpire could overrule a linesman call. A linesman is strategically best positioned to make a call. How an umpire can overrule a call from a linesman seated on the opposite side? Surely linesman can make mistakes, but if the mistake is so obvious that the umpire can see then this linesman should be replaced. Using technology to replay close line calls could also cause another problem. While this is good one have to associate this with the costs implementing it and also the time necessary to replay the shot in question. This could in theory lead to complaints in every shot that lands close to the line and bring interruptions during the game. The undersirable effect could be the player's loss of concentration during the disputes. Also tired players could use this extra time to their advantage. In my opinion, the problem lies with the entity that organized the event. In this case, the Korean badminton federation/association should be held responsible for the linesman problem. They should be penalized for not doing enough work to ensure the game was played in a fair situation for everybody. Instead of going to change the rules, should review the matches and see if the line calls in question were done intentionally the match(es) should be replayed in a neutral ground. The costs should be borne by the organizing federation. This is really bad and sadly not the first time for Korea. If anybody remember during the 80's, Korea also won the team match in Asian games held in Korea. They beat Indonesia and China using same 'tactics'. Indonesia abandoned the semi-final match and lost by default. China also protested during the finals for same problem and don't remember correctly if they returned to finish the game. It's not worth to play under these circumstances. Imagine in a singles match, the bird can land outside of the doubles line and call it in and yours landing inches in and called out. Any similarities with the FIFA World Cup.
in the worlld of soccer? yes i saw an old school clip where maradonna was not only clearly offside but he scored a goal with his hand. The officials gave him the goal probly fearing that he might be killed or something along that line.
they don't have many local referees in FIFA WC anymore.. some, but they don't referee their own home team games.. except for the example above..
Viver, that happened in Asian Games Seoul 1986. The Korean kicked out Indonesian in the semis, and the Chn in the final. Both Ina and Chn almost boycotted the medal presentation
In Asian Games, Seoul 1986, semi finals, Korea men's team faced Indonesia. If Korea win would face China in finals. During the Korea/Indonesia match there were a lot of dubious line calls and all of them in favour of the home team. If Korean player shot landed out were called in. For Chinese/Indonesian players shots if they landed half a foot in were called out. You'd had to smash the shuttle to the Korean player body to get the point or service back. Indonesia lost the first game and walked out in protest due to poor line judging and lost by default. China played in the finals against Korea and same thing happened. China walked out but can't remember clearly if they returned to resume play. This happened only during the team event. In individual play line judging was 'more normal'. It appears to me that wanted to win the team title at all costs. Similar to what happened in this edition of badminton finals in Asian Games according to reports.
Same thing happened this year's Asian Game. During team competition, Indonesia almost left the game when Taufik was arguing about the call. I heard that during TV replay, the bird was in.
