After the match, Deiter went to the far end of the arena and sat on the floor by himself. We went over to congratulate him and he could barely move–he was that exhausted and sweat was pouring off him. He was nice enough to take some pics with us. After dropping my friend off at the skytrain station, I nearly ran him and a few other German players over as they crossed the street on an orange light All in all a good day of badminton. The highlight match was Saputra/Triyachart against Gunalan/Bach. With the SIN team at match point 20-19 and serving, Saputra smashed one into the corner that looked in but the the line judge claimed to be unsighted. The umpire gave the point to to the US team, who went on to take the 2nd game. The poor linesman was beside himself and started crying. We had some angry fans in our section chiding him for his poor judgement (or lack of it). It certainly would have been an injustice if Saputra/Triyachart had lost the match.
Well u gotta feel bad for that line judge. He was crying pretty hard with his hands in his face and his head lowered.
He really blew that call, which to most in our section, looked in. To his credit, he sucked it up after his crying and called everything else correctly. Did I console him? Might have considered it if the line judge was HHY
Also huge congrats to Lee/Fang for staging an incredible comeback from 14-16 down to win 21-16 in the MD rubber. The Koreans really fell apart and committed error after error in the closing stages. Got a nice pic with Lee/ Fang as well
Bach and Gunawan are aging and Bach made too many mistakes today. People over here haven't heard much about the Singaporean pair but as we all witnessed, while still a little rough around the edges, they can play. Great composure to take the momentum away from Bach/ Gunawan when trailing 5-10 in the rubber, only to lead 11-10 at the final break. P.S. I was cheering for Saputra/Triyachart. I had no choice, the people in our section were all rooting for them
All the linesman are volunteers. I guess that is the standard to be expected, since they are not paid. I saw one linesman that didn't watch the game at all and sat there with his eyes on the lines the entire match - that is a very monotonous and boring job. Also, sometimes a linesman's view can be blocked by the player's body whereas the crowd are sitting at a different angle and have a better view than the linesman. IMO, it's not an easy job. I wish the crowd understood this event could not be possible with volunteers for the linesmen, and that their ticket prices are kept lower because of the volunteers. Looking at how the crowd treated the linesman today, I would not want to volunteer as a linesman either - you get yelled at and you don't even get paid - where is the fun in that?
^^ In cases like this, if both the linesman and umpire is unsighted, shouldn't the ump call a let, and replay the point? Just to be fair and all?
I think the point should have been replayed. I was puzzled about the umpire's decision to award the point to the US team
In this case, if I remember correctly, he was not unsighted. I think the pressure got to him at that moment and he froze.
Yeah, I guess I keep forgetting they're almost in their mid thirties. But watching their matches over the past year, eg. Singapore Open, Indonesia Open, Bach is the weak link... whether smashing or defending. Oh well, the MD final should be interesting. Fang/Lee is really on a roll now, having taken the Singapore Open and Indonesian Open titles recently.
Sitting... at home in front of my computer, watching the live stream from Badminton Canada. Fang/Lee should win it... but Lee is also playing XD final... so he may be tired...
Haha, I thought you were there at the Oval screaming for the linesman's head with the others Still think the TPE pair have too much for the SIN duo, who are more prone to errors. It should be an exciting match though.
Well, the line issue again - sure, the standard needs to be improved, but then the fans and the players should NOT take out their anger on the line judge, they are human for making errors, they are human for making mistakes. Sometimes, it has the possibility to make people win the match (2010 AE) It's a pity that these happened in match point, and I believe if we are human, we should be firm, but also forgiving about poor line calls. Unless the bad line calls were repeatedly and PURPOSELY done for the sake of 'patriotism'
..you meant to write "without"??.. ..a bit surprised by Gunawan & Bach's loss...with back to back tourney in this upcoming U.S. Open, their chance to defend their title could be in jeopardy..hmm..btw, Bach has been the weak link in their partnership from the day they started (yes, there was a big debate after their 2005 WC win); shouldn't be a surprise..
Line judging and volunteers To the comments re: the non-call. I wasn't there but was watching at home. The line judge made the right call as in "unsighted" = not sure/didn't see and it is up to the Umpire to make the call. In this case, the Umpire called it out and awarded the point to Bach/Gunawan. If the Umpire wasn't sure, then it would have been a let. One thing that could have been done better (IMHO) is better training for anyone line judging and that there should be a minimum set of criteria to be selected as line judges. I don't know what was done in this event but a number of the volunteer line judges are pretty young/green but kudos to them for doing the best job that they can. The first few days, there were only 4 line judges per match (the minimum number) where the side line judges has to see all the way down the line which impossible with the post on the line for a doubles game which requires that the line judges be seated in between the singles/doubles line which is not ideal.
