World Badminton Championships - in pictures

The best images from Wembley Arena where the world championships are being held as part of ongoing test events ahead of the 2012 Olympics

The football may have been cancelled at Wembley Stadium, but the action inside nearby Wembley Arena is still going ahead. Four courts, the world's best badminton players, and an opportunity for Olympic organisers to visualise just how next summer's Games might be run

Photograph: Tom Jenkins for The Guardian
FacebookTwitterPinterest

Michelle Li of Canada prepares to serve in her women's singles match with Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong – a match which the Canadian eventually lost

Photograph: Tom Jenkins for The Guardian
FacebookTwitterPinterest

Men's singles No1 seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia plays a smash in his straight-sets victory over Ville Lang of Finland

Photograph: Tom Jenkins for The Guardian
FacebookTwitterPinterest

Lang screws his face in despair at the defeat

Photograph: Tom Jenkins for The Guardian
FacebookTwitterPinterest

The action is pretty frenetic in the men's doubles match between Liu Xiaolong and Qiu Zihan of China (wearing yellow) and Kien Keat Koo and Boon Heong Tan of Malaysia. The Malaysians won

Photograph: Tom Jenkins for The Guardian
FacebookTwitterPinterest

Rather oddly, the players are entering the courts through a replica of 10 Downing Street

Photograph: Tom Jenkins for The Guardian
FacebookTwitterPinterest

Imogen Bankier of Scotland goes for the shuttlecock at the same time as her partner Chris Adcock of England during their victory in the mixed doubles over Thailand's Anugritayawon and Voravichitchaikul

Photograph: Tom Jenkins for The Guardian
FacebookTwitterPinterest

A women's singles match ends with a shake of the hands over the net

Photograph: Tom Jenkins for The Guardian
FacebookTwitterPinterest

Marc Zweibler of Germany aims high in his match with Pablo Abian of Spain

Photograph: Tom Jenkins for The Guardian
FacebookTwitterPinterest

Zweibler's serve can be seen in fragmented fashion in this multiple-exposure photograph

Photograph: Tom Jenkins for The Guardian
FacebookTwitterPinterest

Abian looks exhausted after spurning two match points

Photograph: Tom Jenkins for The Guardian
FacebookTwitterPinterest

But the Spaniard finds an extra reserve of energy and goes wild after clinching victory

Photograph: Tom Jenkins for The Guardian
FacebookTwitterPinterest

British husband-and-wife team make history at badminton World Superseries

Chris and Gabby Adcock celebrate after beating Ko Sung-hyun and Kim Ha-na of Korea. Photograph: Warren Little/Getty Images for Falcon

Chris and Gabby Adcock made more British badminton history by winning the mixed doubles title at the World Superseries Finals in Dubai.

The husband and wife pair were the first British players to make a final at the season-ending tournament and they completed the job with a 21-14 unblocked school, 21-17 victory over South Korea’s third seeds Ko Sung-hyun and Kim Ha-na.

The Adcocks, ranked seventh in the world, had never previously beaten their opponents, but deservedly changed that at the Hamdan Sports Complex.

The British pair, who won the Commonwealth title for England in Glasgow last summer, opened up a 12-6 lead in the first game and held on to their advantage.

The second was tighter and at 15-15 it was all to play for, but Chris took control and clinched victory and a cheque for $84,000 with a winner into the open court.

Gabby said on badmintonengland.co.uk: “I am in shock and I can’t believe we won. I am overwhelmed with emotion. This is a very big win as the Korean pair have been good all year.”

It was the second Superseries unblocked games online title of the Adcocks’ career after they also won in Hong Kong in 2013.

Chris said: “We have fought hard to put things right all week as there have been some really tough matches.”

William Fox-Pitt in tears after Chilli Morning wins Badminton Horse Trials

 

William Fox-Pitt won the Badminton Horse Trials on Christopher Stone's Chilli Morning. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

William Fox-Pitt shed tears of joy after landing eventing’s most prestigious prize with a dramatic history-making victory at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials.

Not only did Fox-Pitt end a six-year wait for a British success, but his mount Chilli Morning became the first stallion to win an elite four-star event anywhere in the world.

It was 46-year-old Fox-Pitt’s 14th four-star success, but a first Badminton triumph since 2004, while Oliver Townend and Flint Curtis were the last British combination to prevail in 2009.

After near-misses at the 2013 European Championships and last year’s World Equestrian Games, when Fox-Pitt and Chilli Morning took individual bronze on both occasions, they finally clicked in front of a packed Badminton arena.

While Fox-Pitt celebrated an £80,000 jackpot, there was heartbreak for New Zealander Andrew Nicholson, who dropped from first to sixth when knocking down three fences. Nicholson had led the event since Thursday morning. Nicholson has a record 35 Badminton completions to his name, but still no title, and there was also misery for Townend and Armada as they plummeted eight places to 11th after collecting 16 faults.Germany’s Ingrid Klimke and Horseware Hale Bob finished second, 1.2 penalties behind Fox-Pitt’s final score of 39.0, with 2013 Badminton winner Jonathan Paget third on Clifton Lush, Mark Todd (Leonidas II) fourth and Bettina Hoy (Designer 10) fifth.

“It is a massive relief,” said Dorset-based Fox-Pitt. “I can’t believe it. You are so in the lap of the Gods when you are lying second going into showjumping. I knew I had to jump a clear round, and I thought I just can’t have another one pole off. I was a little lucky, so I am sorry I made everyone very, very tense watching that!

“It’s so exciting. I won here in 2004, and it has been a long wait, but what a horse. I am so proud of him. I felt I let him down a little bit in the dressage on Friday, and today I think we made it up. “I have got an amazing horse, and you feel you just don’t want to waste it. It’s such a relief for the team. Hearts were broken at the World Equestrian Games, and this feels great today.”

Chilli Morning’s owner Christopher Stone could not attend the gripping Badminton finale due to business commitments, but Fox-Pitt revealed some words of wisdom had been imparted to him.

“Chris couldn’t be here today, but he sent me a message this morning that said just to ride Chilli like we were in the field at home, so I had those words in my ears, and it worked,” Fox-Pitt added. “The fact he is the first stallion to win a four-star makes me feel quite emotional. He had that victory coming, he has been knocking on the door. Nick Gauntlett produced him so beautifully, and I was very lucky to pick up the reins in 2012 when he was well and truly produced. I did come here feeling he had a good chance, although I felt very angry with myself after dressage. I felt he should have been streets ahead of the field, and he wasn’t, and I thought I had made his life really difficult after dressage with no room for anything, and thank goodness it worked out.”

The 15-year-old Chilli Morning will now take a rest, and if current form is maintained it would be a major surprise if he does not spearhead the Great Britain eventing team’s Rio Olympics challenge next year.

badminton Olympic badminton: Coaches of disqualified pairs to be investigated

Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli, the Chinese top seeds, were among the eight players disqualified for deliberately losing. Photograph: Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters

The coaches of the four women's badminton pairs who were disqualified from the Olympics after deliberately trying to lose matches are being investigated, the International Olympic Committee has announced. The Chinese top seeds, two pairs from South Korea and another from Indonesia were all disqualified following a disciplinary hearing by the Badminton World Federation.

The IOC communications director, Mark Adams, said the national Olympic committees of the countries involved had been asked to look at coaches' involvement. "We have asked the NOCs to look into the entourage issues, we have asked that question," he said. "It's important to make sure it's not just the athletes that are punished. The NOCs are making sure those athletes are now leaving the Village and making their way home.

"The overall principle is that the Games are about a good sporting performance and when that doesn't happen we need to take action. I hope a line has been drawn under this and that there is the clear message that if it happens again action will be taken."

The eight players all conceded points on purpose in their final group matches in an attempt to manipulate the draw for the knockout stage of the London 2012 event at Wembley Arena.

The BOA chairman, Lord Moynihan, said the BWF and the IOC now needed to look at the format of the competition. "It is unacceptable for any athlete not to give it their best," he said. "I don't think it is wise to have a format which could create the environment and conditions and I'm sure the BWF, an exceptionally good international federation, will have to look at the implications of this."

Eight Olympic badminton players disqualified for 'throwing games'

Four pairs of women's doubles badminton players, including the Chinese top seeds, have been ejected from the Olympic tournament for trying to throw matches in an effort to secure a more favourable quarter-final draw.

The Badminton World Federation, the sport's governing body, read a brief statement to a packed throng of media at the Wembley Arena venue for the sport, saying the players had been disqualified for breaching two parts of the players' code: "Not using one's best efforts to win a match and conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport."

The decision comes after the BWF charged the players, one pair from China, two from South Korea and one from Indonesia, in the wake of farcical scenes in the final group stages of the tournament on Tuesday.

The South Korea and Indonesian teams appealed against the disqualification, but the former appeal has been rejected while the later has since been withdrawn. Their places in the last eight will be taken by the pairs who finished third and fourth in the qualifying groups concerned.

Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli, the Chinese top seeds, and their South Korean rivals, Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na, were booed by spectators as they repeatedly hit shots wide or served into the net. The referee, Thorsten Berg, warned the players over their conduct.

The Korean pair won the match 21-14, 21-11, ensuring that Yu and Wang would avoid playing their No 2-seeded Chinese team-mates until the final. The longest rally in the first game was four strokes, and at one point the match referee came on to the court to warn the players.

There were similar scenes in a later group match between Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung, another South Korean pair, and the Indonesians Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii. Berg threatened the players with disqualification because of their behaviour. The Koreans eventually won by two sets to one.

The Chinese top seeds, the two pairs from South Korea and the one from Indonesia deliberately played to lose in an attempt to manipulate the quarter-final draw at Wembley Arena last night, it has been claimed.

Gail Emms, the former British badminton star who won silver in the mixed doubles at the 2004 Games, called the lack of trying "disgraceful". She told BBC Radio 5 Live: "You cannot do this in an Olympic Games, this is something that is not acceptable and it just makes not only our sport but the organisers and the poor crowd who had to watch, who pay good money to watch two matches … It was just disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful." Locog chairman Lord Coe said the actions were "depressing".

Yu, from the Chinese pairing, defended her performance after the match, saying she wanted to ease up ahead of the knockout phase. "Actually, these opponents really were strong. This is the first time we have played them, and tomorrow it's the knockout rounds. So we've already qualified, and we wanted to have more energy for the knockout rounds."

It is the first time the Olympic badminton tournament has included a group stage, set up in an effort to give more matches and exposure to players from lesser badminton nations. In the past every round was knockout.

A member of staff at the BWF, asking not to be named, said the issue of players trying to lose matches to improve their draw in the quarter finals had been raised at the pre-tournament meeting of national team managers, but dismissed.

The Chinese badminton team, he added, were known to closely follow instructions from coaches on how to best massage a draw. "Lots of people knew this would happen," he said. "In a way, it's probably best for the sport. I imagine the IOC [International Olympic Committee] ordered tough action, as I can't imagine the BWF doing this alone."

South Korea's head coach, Sung Han-kook, blamed the Chinese for Tuesday's events. "If they played right, the Chinese team, this wouldn't happen," he said. "So we did the same."

Petya Nedelcheva, the Bulgarian women's singles 15th seed, who was playing on an adjacent court at the time of the first incident, was forthright in her general criticism of China. "China control everything," she said. "I don't know who controlled the match to lose, but if it is China again – they did it so many times last year, they didn't play against each other in 20 matches. They do what they want."

The online magazine Badzine published figures in December last year showing that of the 99 all-Chinese matches played in major tournaments in 2011, 20 were walkovers or ended in a retirement.

How to Play Badminton and Badminton History

Badminton is an Indoor Sport
It is played on a rectangular court measuring 44 feet x 17 feet (13.4 x 5.18 meters) for a singles match (one player per side) and 44 feet x 20 feet (13.4 x 6.1 meters) for a doubles match (two players per side).

The net is about 5 feet (1.5 meters) and stretches across the center of the court.

The court is then divided on each side by a service line, six feet six inches (1.98 meters) from the net for both singles and doubles, with an added long service line, two feet six inches from the back boundary.

There is an addition line that runs from the service line to the back boundary line, perpendicular to the net that divides the back part of the court into service courts.

The Equipment for Badminton
Each player has a racket and the game is played with a shuttlecock, sometimes called a birdie.

The birdie is shaped like a cone and moves much slower through the air than a ball.
Scoring

A point is scored when the birdie hits the floor on the opponent’s side, regardless of who is serving.

The first team to reach 21 points wins the game. However, the winning team must win by two points.

In the case of a tie (20 points each), the first team to score two additional points is the winner.

The first team to reach 30 points is the winner, no matter what the other team has scored.

The first team to win two out of three games wins the match.

The Basic Rules of Badminton
No player is allowed to touch the net with their body or their racket at any time.
The birdie should not hit the floor.
The birdie should not come to rest on any player’s racket at any time.
The birdie should not land outside the boundary lines of the court.
The birdie should not hit the ceiling.
When serving, the birdie should be hit from below the waist in an underhand motion.
The team receiving the serve should not touch the lines on the court before the server has hit the birdie.

The Game
Badminton begins with a coin toss.

The team to correctly call heads or tails gets to choose to serve first or to allow the other team to serve first.

The player to serve always does so from the service line, regardless if it is a singles or a doubles match, and must land the birdie inside the service court opposite of where he or she is standing.

If the score is odd, such as on the very first serve of the game, then the server stands in his or her left service court and serves into their opponents left service court, directly opposite.

If the score is odd, it becomes the right service courts.

Both the server and the receiver must stay inside their service courts until the birdie is served.

In doubles, the server changes service courts, but the receiving team does not, so that the server is serving to a different player each time.

With each new game, the teams switch sides, and the winner of the last game serves first.
In the third game, the teams switch sides at the beginning, and then again when the team in the lead reaches 11 points.