The IRS system adopted by the BWF has been provided by the US IMG company that is responsible for production of TV broadcast this year. It combines eight high-speed cameras and two display-use computers. When a player challenges a line judge’s call the umpire will make a signal to the courtside referee or assistant referee who will see a slow motion repeat of the shuttlecock landing and decide whether it was “in” or “out.”

Originally, if the line judge was correct, the referee would give a thumbs up signal to the umpire; if the challenge by the player was successful, the referee would give a thumbs down signal. The slow motion repeat of the shuttlecock landing is not shown on the big screen for spectators to see, only the referees see it and this probably takes into account the fact that venue equipment differs between countries.

At the All-England Championships in
March this year Badminton World Championships
women’s singles winner Ratchanok Intanon of Thaliand
used the court challenge right not long after her match
began. A senior commentator, Gillian Clark, said that
the player showed her youth by using the challenge
right so early and that players should avoid using it in the
first half of a match, saving it for use at crucial points in the match, or even
to use as a way of taking a breather.

Although badminton matches already use a judging aid like Hawk-eye, because of the significant expense involved, the IRS system will only be installed for tournaments of Super Series level and above that are being broadcast on TV. This means that the court challenge right cannot be used be used by players in the semi-finals and final at Grand Prix Gold tournaments which will be shown on TV this year, and there will no chance it can be used at an ordinary event.(The above contents represent the author’s personal views and not the views of this company)

( Edit by VICTOR Badminton )