Read this article today. I think the BWF guy is missing the point- the problem is the umpires but the LINESPERSONS! BWF assures fair judging in Beijing It allays fears by M'sian world No.2 Lee that line calls will favour China's stars at the Olympics By Terrence Voon THE Badminton World Federation (BWF) has assured players that there will be fair judging at the upcoming Olympics. Fears that umpires may be biased against non-China shuttlers are unfounded, said a BWF official. China's players like world No 1s Lin Dan and Xie Xingfang are the odds-on favourites for the badminton golds in Beijing, where they will be cheered on by a fiercely partisan home crowd. But Malaysia's world No 2 Lee Chong Wei had suggested on Thursday that the Chinese stars will have another advantage - line calls that will go in their favour. It was not the first time that Lee had made his concerns public. Last year, he claimed he was the victim of biased line calls when he played Lin Dan and his compatriot Bao Chunlai in Hong Kong and China respectively. But the BWF has been working hard to ensure that judging at the Beijing Olympics will be completely impartial, said its Olympic technical delegate, Paison Rangsikitpho. 'Sometimes, there are human errors by the judges, and players will over-react, especially if they are playing in another country,' he told The Straits Times. 'But we will monitor the competition closely and do our best to make sure it is fair.' According to Paison, 24 umpires have been appointed for the Olympic badminton events. Only two are from China. A total of 10 international line judges will be on hand, and they will be tasked with training 60 other Chinese line judges. Members of the foreign brigade at this week's Aviva Open Singapore are also confident that the spirit of fair play will prevail in the Chinese capital. Said England's top male shuttler, Andrew Smith: 'I've played in China before and I've never had any problem with the judging. I think it'll be okay.' All-England champion Tine Rasmussen, who will lead the overseas charge against the Chinese in the women's singles, says she is not worried by the possibility of unfair line calls. 'Of course it's not good if the line calls are bad,' said the Danish star. 'But if I play my game, I won't be affected by one or two bad calls.' According to the BWF, no major changes will be made at the Olympic badminton events this year. Video playback, which had been mooted in the past, will not feature at the Beijing Games. Said Paison: 'We are studying this for the future, but our concern is that players might use playbacks as a tactic to break their opponent's momentum.'
I think the person who wrote this article has misunderstood what LCW has said.(phrases in bold). According to the article posted in SO'08 thread--"LCW Feeling the Heats". When replying to the reporter on his chances of success in Beijing,LCW said:"China will still be the overwhelming favourites.I just hope the judging will be fair to everyone." What is that?That is totally hugh different isn't it?
well, at least they have publicly stated that they're doing something about it. i'm sure it'll be much better at the OG than at the CHN and HK opens.
wait and see We just have to wait and see how the Chinese line-judges going to act. If Indonesia could host the Thomas Cup without biasing line-judges then we have to believe so can the Chinese in Olympic, after all, the whole world is watching!
Do not worry guys... for this coming OG08, most of the linesman, service judge and umpires will be from "neutral" countries and CHN has very little advantage. Havings said that, however, it doesnt mean that CHN has NO CONTROL over the end-results Go figure out yourself...
I wonder what BWF means by "working hard" and doubtful how it could help to ensure fair judging at the tournaments if fundamental change is not there. Is BWF going to tell every linesman "you bias, you go to jail !!!". How about video replay or deploying new technologies, etc. To me, these are fundamental changes needed to minimize human mistakes at EVERY TOURNAMENT, not just BEIJING2008. Its time to deploy cutting edge technologies to solve existing problems, not just circling around the scoring system.
I totally second this point of view! TECHNOLOGY should be employed and it is the responsiblity of BWF to see this happen. In fact new technology hawk eye should be use long time ago. BWF claims they will use neutral line judges that means line judges not from the home country to supervise semi finals matches and above. Is this happening? I doubt so!( Can someone enlighten me please) Look at today IO MD semi final match. As far as I can see there were 2 dispute calls that were favour the Indonesian pairs Chandra/ Tony agaisnt Malaysia players Ong Soon Hock/Hoon Thien How. I am not challenging the INA players win because indeed they played well. But I doubt the line judges were from neutral countries. Can someone who was there enlighten me? I think BWF is talking too much and do very little improvement on ensuring fair matches and good line judgement. Very often bad line calls are the reasons for disputes and dissatisfaction among players, coaches and spectators. BWF is bot bold enough to solve this problem. They must put their focus and resources to solve this problem. I personally has lost confidence on BWF. I wouldn't take their words "trying very hard" seriously. I predict that some very bad line calls, bias judgements and serious disputes will still occur in Beijing olympic and coming open matches.
Just to add one more point I did not mention in previous post, BWF thinks the system is perfect and the problem is human errors. So they keep looking for perfect linesmen. In my opinion, its the system that needs to be fixed to minimal human errors. A good system will work well no matter who the linesmen are.
Ha Ha I take it as you have good humour! Well flying racket or no flying racket is not the point. The point is when BWF still reluctant to take bold steps to implements stern measures(eg hawk eye, neutral line judges, no volunteer line judges, tighter rules and etc), certain parties will still take advantage of any loopholes. And I mean any loopholes! Delaying tactics, walk over for teamates, false injuries, coaches shouting threats and yes including flying rackets! On top of that you know what is most funny? After all these have happened the players and coaches could walked away unpunished! Look at the flying racket case. After BWF investigation is there any parties been penalized? The Korean officials? LD? Lee Mao? Not even official warnings from BWF! Look at all those cases of deliberate walk over for teammates? I did not hear even a word of dissatisfactions from BWF not to mention official warnings. What kind of authority is this? Brilliant BWF!
You are absolutely right...BWF is as forgetful as me. What has BWF done ??? No disciplinary actions whatsoever taken so far. At the minimal, we all have the rights to hear what BWF has to say about the cost it has to pay in taking disciplinary actions against a player. Then it helps to justify its choice to remain quiet.
talking about line judges. after watching the IO, the final matches, recently. i did notice that the line judges are making some effort. instead of "just" sitting on the chair, they did move to side, even raise their butt off the chair to make clear view(block by player) to eyewitness the shuttle whether in or out...... in tennis, one can see the line judges move and stand, to have clear view of the line.
is this system permanent at the stadium or has mobilities? 4 courts X USD50k = USD200k a one time investment to raise, encourage, promote the popularity of badminton. is it worth it? or, back to square, make the line calls as the popularity?
