Something I see a lot during club play and kind of bothers me is when a shuttle is in play near the net, and the defending side stands with racquet up to block the shot even before the shuttle is hit. Now I believe this is a legal move and makes sense when the shuttle has already fallen below the tapeline. However, if the shuttle is still above the tapeline, IMO the defender is obstructing the shot by standing there. Given the latter circumstance, is it still: 1) legal to stand there and try to "block" the shot? 2) On a lighter note, as long as the shuttle is struck on own side of court, couldn't the attacker technically finish the swing by hitting the defender?
Someone may correct me bu the rule used to be that it was perfectly acceptable to hold your racket up by the net irrespective of the position of the shuttle, providing an attempt to play the shuttle is made - ie you cannot just hold your racket still and block the shot, forward motion towards the shuttle must be made.
If you obstruct the opppents shot by holding the racket up, its a fault. If he shuttle is above tape height and your racket is held up against the net, it could be deemed as an obstruction because your oppenent would be unable to play a swipe shot say, where his racket might cross the net a little bit ( the follow through - which is legal ). I dunno about the "attempt to play" mentioned by Jamesd20 because a block shot with no forward motion is perfectly legal anywhere else on court.... Also i think its probably a dumb move because youve just committed to a shot and are stuck there so you cant cover anywhere behind you if the push it past you or the cross court.
It's only illegal if you obstruct your opponent from making a (legal) follow-through over the net during his shot (and obviously your racket must stay entirely on your side of the net). There is no law about "attempting to play" the shot. You don't need to make a swing for it to be legal. If you are defending in this situation, then try using a large (but legal) follow-through on your lift. If you hit the opponent's racket, then the point is yours.
Thanks for the replies all. Just got back from badminton play and saw this again. *sigh* Next time I'll talk with the player regarding what has been said here.
Thanks for clearing up the playing a stroke rule. What happens if the two players strike rackets together during both their follow throughs?
i have exploited this rule all the time. While chatting with canada national coach, i even told him the way how to get a cheap and easy point from this situation. The problem is most recreational players dont know this rule and it is hard to convince them their obstruction of my follow thru cause them a point. They think that their amazing block shot deserve the point and actually not. That is why we dont see much from pros employing the close to net block shot. If u search in youtube, u can find one unique situation where chen yu successfully cut off a shot from KJ right at the net and was done legally. In reply to ur post, the shuttle can only be strike one side of the court at a time**, therefore, there is only 1 striker and 1 blocker. If both clashed racket, striker side win. ** if the shuttle is striked right above the net plane level, then it would up to the umpire to call a fault or not. I think it is this video (i can't watch youtube at work anymore, company removed my adobe flash player driver, and not allow me to download executable program from the internet) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhg5ku2WHjw while on the topic, is there a way i can download and save the actual flash player driver at home, and then i can install the flash driver manually on my work computer?
Whenever there is a conflict of faults, order is decisive. The first fault takes precedence; the second "fault" is not a fault, because the shuttle was out of play. So the player killing the shuttle would win the rally here, because his opponent made the first obstruction.
nice video, Chen Yu ducked below tapeline when he made that block whereas most people I see stand as if blocking with their whole body as if asking to be hit.
I don't know about you guys, but net blocking is so annoying. The dumb part is that they made it seem as if it's a legal. If it's legal, I'm pretty sure all of the pro's would be doing it.
Completely agree and that's why I started this post to find out is it really legal or not what they are doing. Most of the time I just want to hit them on the follow through of my swing but risking damaging my racquet just isn't worth it. As mentioned before, if you commit to a net block like that, you're exposing yourself to a push behind you or a cross-court drop so it's really just an annoyance rather than any useful technique.
ah this, i have had this happen many times when just playing for fun with friends they will play a net shot and it will be rather tight but when i go to lift it there standing there just holding their racquet right at the net or even over it in cases and it comes right back down. when i tell them its a fault they never believe me or anything but oh well thats their problem if they ever try it in an actual tournament or anything with an unpire it could be trouble for them. but even playing tournaments and watching many international players i have not seen any professional players try this and im not surprised at all about that.
Where I play, there is a player who after playing a delicate drop shot, will bring his racquet head into the opponents count (over the net) and hold it there. If the opponent lifts straight up, the shuttle will hit the first players racquet and fallback into court. Is this legal?
If it's over the net, then it's illegal. Not only is it an obstruction, but also the point of contact of the shuttle to your opponent's racket will also be on your side of the court.
I've just check the rules available on the website of the French Federation and it's allowed unless if you prevent your opponent to make his shot.
Yes. But I'm sure it was forbidden ten years ago when I was U15. Anyway, it doesn't change the fact it's really annoying and frustrating when you're in good position to kill .
Yeah, sadly it seems changed. Take a look at this video, in the rally around 5:40; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur5YruyBHhI Jonassen did it!
Yeah, sadly it seems changed; take a look at this video around 5:40; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur5YruyBHhI Jonassen did the block!