Question

Who are the officials of badminton?

Answer

The officials are the judges responsible to ensure a fair badminton game is being played.They consists of:

Umpire: The ‘main judge’ for the particular badminton game. He/she has the power to overrule any
decisions made by the service judge or line judges. The umpire is the person ensuring that the
badminton game is run smoothly and prevent any players from delaying the game play.

Whenever a player requests to change the shuttle, the umpire will need to approve that the change
could be made.

The umpire also looks out for faults committed around the net area such as whether a player touched
the net when returning the shuttle.

Besides, the umpire is responsible to make a ‘fault’ call when the shuttle touches the player or the
players’ attires except for the badminton racket. In badminton, it will be a fault/foul to a player if the
shuttle touches any part of that player’s body or attire.

Service Judge: The service judge is responsible in making a ‘service fault’ call and to provide shuttles to
the players.

Line Judges: Line judges sit beside the badminton court (right in front of every in/out lines) to determine
whether the shuttle is inside or outside the boundaries of the court.

Their calls are usually very subjective and are often controversial.
How Many Officials are in Badminton? At international competitions and major badminton tournaments,
there are, surprisingly, a lot of officials. At a minimum, there are 13 officials that are in charge of a
badminton match. 1 referee, who is in charge of the tournament, and they may have deputies and other
(referee) team members. 1 umpire who’s in charge of the court. 1 service judge who calls service faults.
10 line judges. Let’s look at their roles

How Many Officials are in Badminton?

Badminton Referee

The referee is in charge of the tournament and has absolute authority – on-court and off court. He’s the
final arbitrator on matters on and off the court! They also handle all tournament organization. As you can
imagine, a badminton referee has a lot responsibilities. And so he usually has a team to assist him –
assistant referees.

Referees are responsible for making sure that tournament players and officials have adequate facilities.
Making sure that all equipment is up to BWF standards. Schedule all matches and assign umpires and
others officials (in consultation with the umpire) to officiate the matches. They also liaise with coaches
and badminton teams participating at the tournament.

Referees are rarely on court – except during extraordinary circumstances, and when matters are referred
to them by the umpire. Outside of the major tournaments, you’ll find referees also take on the role of
umpires.

Badminton Umpire

A badminton umpire is in charge of the court and its surrounding. Match umpires report to the referee.
In tournaments where the Instant Review System (“Hawkeye”) is available, you may have an IRS
badminton umpire that makes calls on IRS challenges. But more often than not, you’ll have 1 badminton
umpire that’s also responsible for making IRS calls.

While the referee is in charge of the tournament, the umpire is in charge of the court and the match.
They may refer some decisions to the referee – especially appeals to badminton laws or questions.
However, they it’s the umpires duty to uphold and enforce the laws of badminton. They are the only
official players can speak to during a match and handle all appeals or disputes during the match.
Another major role of umpires is to keep the players, judges, and spectators informed of the score,
which they keep, (re)starting play, calling “service over”, faults and lets, and breaks in play, and end of
games (sets) and matches. The umpire sits on the umpire’s chair – which is usually raised above the net
and gives him a good view of all the line judges and the service judge.

Badminton Service Judge

The badminton service judge has 2 roles: call service faults, and hold the shuttles. The umpire might
delegate some of their duties; checking shuttle speeds, height of the net, position of the poles etc. to the
service judge. But the main job of the service judge is to watch the server and see if the serve is legal.
It’s seems like an easy job, but the badminton serve is one of the most contentious part of the game.
That’s why it has a dedicated judge.

The service judge sits on a low chair, at the middle of the court, directly opposite the umpire. If no
service judge is appointed, the umpire takes on the role of the service judge

Badminton Line Judges

The role of a badminton line judge is to judge whether the shuttle has landed in or out of the court if the
birdie lands near the lines they are assigned to. If the line judge is unsighted (for instance by a player),
they should signal the umpire that they didn’t see where the shuttlecock landed.

The BWF recommends 10 line judges per court. And it is the job of the umpire to make sure that he has
enough line judges to help him in making decision. Most of the line judges are positioned opposite the
umpire so that the umpire can clearly see them.

There are 2 line judges for the short service line, one on each side of the court. 2 line judges for the
center line, one on each end of the court. For singles, there are 4 line judges – 2 on each end of the court
assigned the singles side lines. For doubles, there are 4 line judges – 2 on each end of the court assigned
the doubles side lines. Finally, there are 2 back boundary line judges, one each end and for doubles the
back boundary line judges also serve as the long service line judges. Hence, they sit between the two
lines.