Hi, I run a very casual (but very lovely) badminton club. There's been a lot of discussion about double hitting of the shuttle, I haven't been able to find a clear and authoritative statement of the rules. Can you help?
Look no further than the official laws: Double hits are relatively rare. I'd estimate that I have to call a double hit fault about once in a 100 matches, at least when excluding cases where the player catches a short shot with their racket. As usual, ITTO §6.7 applies: The double hit rule must be there so that badminton does not become Volleyball, because that would be boring. A player not cleanly hitting the shuttle should almost never be faulted.
Thanks Phihag. Is it clear to you what is meant by "the head"? Is that the frame of the racquet? One shot I'm particularly interested in is when the shuttle slides across the strings. It's a mis-hit, not intentional. People at my club say it's ok if the racquet only moves in one direction "if it's in one motion". But is that really the criterion? ITTO §6.7 and your commentary on it are very interesting, thank you.
Yes, this is the racket frame, as defined in law §4.1.3, which simply says The head bounds the stringed area. Slice shots, whether intentional or unintentional, are a part of the game, at least nowadays – before 1963 the rules were different. Hitting in one motion is not the precise technical definition – that would be only one distinct hit – but captures the spirit of the rule quite well. In other words, if the shuttle is just mishit or sliced, it's fine. A fault only occurs if the shuttle bounces from the racket and is then hit again.
Yes of course, this is BC after all. Recall a hit is only when a shuttle is struck by a racquet. Double hits can be described in several situations. If hit first by you and then by your doubles partner, or vice versa, then it is a fault. After a shuttle hit by a player, the shuttle is going toward the opponent court but not over the net, and the same player, or partner assists it over. It will be a fault at the second hit. During a serve, when the cork is hit first and immediately the feathers - this will not be called a fault as it is an execution of a single stroke. In short, if the hit is a single stroke, then no fault. The laws section is pinned in the rules sunforum, and even though our janitor has not yet updated it, see section 13.3.
