(Xports News Reporter Kwon Dong-hwan) This is in contrast to the situation with ‘World No. 1’ Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance).
In badminton men’s doubles, when rallies continued for more than 100 times, a worse referee stopped the game and cautioned the players.
Thai media ‘Badminton BB’ reported on the 12th (Korean time) through social network service (SNS), “In the men’s doubles match between Thailand and Malaysia, while more than 100 rallies were going on, the referee suddenly stopped the match for ‘not being serious enough’, surprising the players and spectators.”
There is no time limit on rallies under badminton rules, but if the rally progresses excessively and a delay in the game is suspected, the referee may stop the game at his discretion or issue a warning or foul for such behavior.
In particular, badminton men’s doubles is a sport with a very fast tempo. Therefore, it is analyzed that when the rally progressed more than 100 times, the referee suspected intentional delay in the game and stopped the game to criticize the players’ attitude.
Of course, even if the rally is long, it may be evaluated as a great match depending on the game situation and atmosphere.
A good example is Ahn Se-young’s women’s singles final at the 2025 All England Open (Super 1000) last March.
Ahn Se-young faced China’s Wang Zhiyi (world number 2) in the All England Open finals and won with a game score of 2-1 (13-21 21-18 21-18).
The highlight of the day came in game 2.
With the score at 6-6, the two players exchanged as many as 79 shots, and Ahn Se-young won after a rally that lasted 1 minute and 28 seconds. When the long rally ended, Wang Ziyi sat down and gasped.
Ahn Se-young, who had a heated battle with Wang Ziyi, even set a new world record with a rally in which she exchanged 79 shots.
At the time, global media ‘Indian Sports Hub’ reported on the 9th, “This year, An Se-young and Wang Ziyi set an important record in women’s badminton singles.”
“They exchanged 79 shots at the All England Open,” he said. “Ahn Se-young and Wang Ziyi broke the record of 73 shots taken by Pusala Sindhu (India) and Nozomi Okuhara (Japan) at the 2017 World Championships in 8 years. This record is unlikely to be broken for the time being.”
As such, the men’s doubles 100-ball rally between Thailand and Malaysia also attracted attention for its long match, but the referee deemed it a ‘meaningless exchange’ and arbitrarily cut off the match in the middle.
Photo = Yonhap News / Badminton BB SNS
Reporter Kwon Dong-hwan kkddhh95@xportsnews.com
