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Lars Hamer

Chinese badminton fans have accused Anders Antonsen of bad sportsmanship and claimed a referee was bias after the world No 2’s controversial 2-0 win over Li Shifeng on Wednesday.
Antonsen beat China’s Li 21-14, 21-18, in the first group stage game of the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, and the home fans did not take it well.
The Dane was winning 18-17 in the final game when controversy struck, with one of the line judges coughing as the 27-year-old hit the shuttlecock into the net.
The two-time European champion was outraged and immediately began arguing with the line judge. After conferring with the judge, the umpire told a clearly confused Li “we have to replay” the point.
“Antonsen’s sportsmanship is very poor and the referee’s objectiveness is even worse,” one popular Weibo post said.
“[What] the commentator said was very reasonable, if there was any doubt about the play, you should not return it, if you return it, you admit there’s no fault,” another user said.

One social media user said Antonsen was “booed like crazy” in the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Expo Center after the incident. Others said he only complained after he lost the point and the judge coughed when the shuttlecock had already hit the net.
A video of the incident showed the line judge covering his mouth as Li prepared to return the shuttlecock, but he only appeared to cough once it reached Antonsen.
After the match, two-time Asian Games gold medallist Li said he “didn’t understand” what had happened.
“It seemed like they had given the point to me, but then [Antonsen] and the line judge were talking, then the line judge and the umpire were talking,” the 24-year-old said.
“I couldn’t understand because my English is not so good, but anyway, it’s quite normal, I don’t think it’s bad, I can face these problems.”
However, Li said athletes would use different tactics to win, including trying to influence referees or the home crowd.
“Athletes want to win the match and I think there will always be unfavourable factors, such as referees, the home crowd, the lights, anything like that,” he said.
“It’s best to not let yourself be easily affected by these things, your opponent definitely wants to win, so he will definitely use his own advantages or tricks, I think this is normal.”
Li said the decision did not affect him, but admitted it was a key point in a game where he had been constantly playing catch up and had managed to pull level.


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Anders Antonsen (left) talks to the referee during his men’s singles match against Li Shifeng. Photo: Xinhua

China’s Li Shifeng initially won the point, before Antonsen had it replayed. Photo: Xinhua

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China

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