Not a fault. Also the player serving might think he has a trick under his sleeve, yet I don't see how can he deliver consistent short serves with such a quick motion. Sure it will surprise the receiver on the first or second time when it's a flick but after few serves, I'd receive the service standing one meter behind the service line in order to expect the flick and smash it and if he serves short I think it wouldn't be a good serve every single time with such a quick motion. Surely it would be easy to attack even not standing by the service line. Looking forward fo see if the experts can confirm it's not a fault.
Depends on the laws: If you are playing with the new fixed service height laws, it's likely fine. But under the legacy laws currently used at national level, I concur with @stradrider : The shaft has to point downwards when the shuttle is struck, and in this serve the shaft is clearly pointing upwards.
Yes, it is a fault under the legacy laws still used in almost all national tournaments. No, it is not a fault under the current international fixed service height rules.
Yea, while the last overhauls of the rules were fantastic, one thing that I thought was strange, is taking out "below the waist" service rule out of the main laws of badminton... This doesn't make any sense to me. Yes, on the high level, only fixed height rules are used, however even the top players will have to use the so called "alternative service rules" when playing in local tournaments...At least 100 times more (likely thousand times more) players around the world continue playing using the "below the waist" rules without any change. Those who read the rules for the first time, will get confused by lack of the "below the waist" rules and will never think they should look for it in another file... For the people who couldn't find them, right now the standard service "below the waist" and "shaft not pointing downwards" rules reside in another file called "Section 4.1.4 Alternative Laws of Badminton" and look like that:
The No and Not sure votes almost cancel the Yes votes, 4 to 5 as it now stands. This is not good. If officiating, the decision must be clear. It is good thing the responding people are not umpiring. Now, that, would create headaches!
What about club matches though? What rules shall we use and prioritize? Obviously, I guess the alternative service law one since it is the one we would use for tournaments as we aren't pro players but at most clubs, players watch pro matches and end up copying the rule of 1.15m high service subconsciously and implementing it in the club as if it was the official rule. It doesn't really matter for sure since it's only practice or friendly matches but it certainly shows how confusing it is to have 2 different rules for the service alone.
I would play under the laws of the federation that the club belongs to – yes, that's a third set of laws (and potentially fourth for their alternate rules, and even fifth/six if the regional federation has their own laws). The federation at the level you're playing at (for most people this will be the regional one) will select which laws are to be played with. Usually, they will default to the national federation's laws. If in doubt, you can ask your regional federation. In training and for-fun play, I'd play with the same laws as in official matches, unless you are training for a higher level (e.g. a very good national player entering an international tournament). For France, the national federation's rules are (footnote 1 on page 8, my school French translation): So unless your regional federation defines otherwise, you're currently playing under the alternate service laws. This is of course a cop-out, because the fixed service height devices are available and the federation could "just" distribute them everywhere and say they'd be "in place" now. Giving the federation the power to switch between rulesets without needing to change the written laws is not unusual for rules in flux though, because changing the laws can take years.
Wow thank you so much. I will just screenshot that and explain it the same way you did whenever the issue rises in our clubs!
