Thailand’s top badminton official said yesterday he was trying to save the country’s tarnished image after an on-court brawl between former Olympics doubles partners, which he called unprecedented in the past half-century of Thai badminton.
Yesterday’s comments by Charoen Wattanasin, president of the Badminton Association of Thailand, came a day after the world badminton body opened two disciplinary cases against the players for their outburst during the Canada Open men’s doubles final.
The fight was caught on video and has hundreds of thousands of viewers online.
The footage shows Bodin Issara lunging at his former partner Maneepong Jongjit and chasing him around the court, then onto a neighboring court before punching him and kicking him several times on the ground.
STITCHES
Bodin, who needed two stitches, said Maneepong hit him with a racket. Prior to the blows, the pair had already received a warning from the referee for a verbal exchange.
“At this point, I’m not focusing on which side is right or wrong,” said Charoen, who has been involved in Thai badminton for nearly 60 years.
“The damage already happened and I’m trying to save the country’s image in the badminton world,” he said.
“I’ve never seen any incident as embarrassing as this one. Badminton is a gentleman’s game. Something like this has never happened before,” Charoen said.
The Badminton World Federation said in a statement on Thursday that its disciplinary committee was investigating the events and has asked both players to provide written explanations by Wednesday next week.
PHYSICAL ABUSE
Both players face charges of inappropriate conduct, oral abuse and unsportsmanlike conduct. Bodin faces additional charges of physical abuse and conduct contrary to the integrity of the game.
Officials have not commented on possible sanctions, but the players could face bans, suspensions or fines.
Bodin and Maneepong, both 22, were among the top-ranked badminton pairings and reached the quarter-finals at the 2012 Olympics.
They split in January, when Bodin retired to take care of his ailing mother, but was soon competing again with another partner.
Sunday’s final ended with Maneepong and new partner Nipitphon Puangpuapech, also from Thailand, being awarded the victory after Bodin was shown a black card.
Bodin issued an apology on national television earlier this week.
“I was smacked in my ear by a racket until I bled, and my ear ripped open. I lost my cool,” he said. “I have to apologize to every Thai fan that I shed bad light on our country.”
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
RSS