Source: REUTERS/Issei Kato
[Saba Sports News] Last month, a controversial touch incident at the Malaysia Masters caused an uproar, prompting Herry Iman Pierngadi, head coach of the Malaysian national team’s doubles squad, to criticize the BWF referees. In response, Malaysian doubles star Aaron Chia Teng Fong called on the BWF to keep pace with technology and introduce VAR (video assistant referee) similar to football, to reduce disputes and enhance match integrity. Dingfeng believes that incidents like whether a ball touched a player could be better determined with video playback. Furthermore, he pointed out that current service line decisions still overly rely on service judges, which often leads to controversy because the height of each judge can differ, even though the standard service height is 1.15 meters. The angle from which each player is observed can vary. Previously, during a Men’s Doubles Round of 16 match at the Malaysian Super 500 Series, Malaysian pair Kang Khai Xing and Aaron Tai faced off against Danish duo Rasmus Kjar and Frederik Sogaard. They encountered a contentious touch call in the deciding set. Consequently, the Malaysian Badminton Association submitted a formal complaint to the BWF.