Hello fellow rule experts. I have a question : Is there a rule if a shuttle completely explode when hit by one player that states that the point should be replayed? Is there a threshold like the shuttle losing all feather or the cork flying alone at supersonic speed? I could not find the answer to this I hope I did not miss a thread. Thanks guys
It is only a let if the cork/base separates from the rest of the shuttle: This is incredible rare; in all of my playing and umpiring, I never encountered a shuttle completely disintegrating. I suppose if you play on with damaged shuttles or play with really low-quality shuttles it could happen. The shuttle losing feathers, being compressed, or otherwise flying wobbly is not cause for a let; the rally will be finished with that shuttle. Of course, the players (and if they'd somehow miss it, the umpire) will demand a new shuttle for the next rally after that.
I've seen a high quality shuttle (Babolat 1) imploding after a smash. The cork broke vertically, leading to the shuttle becoming a complete flat rocket. Nothing separated though, so I guess it's not a let. I remember the question came up, not sure how the players on court handled it (no umpire)... good to know.
Just a little side note to this topic, many years ago at the YAE the referee was called onto court to make a decision in a MD game. One pair wanted a let to be called after the feathers and cork base became seperated, however the other pair said that the rule states that the base and feathers have to completely seperate for a let to be called, then pointed out that in this instance the cork base has spit in two and a circle of cork was still inside the feathers, as such, complete seperation had not occured. I well remember the look the passed over the refs face at that point.