Standard of umpiring in India Open inconsistent: Gopichand

Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand Sunday questioned the standard of umpiring during the India Open badminton tournament, calling it inconsistent.

On Saturday, Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy were called twice for service fault by the umpire during their semifinal match against the Indonesian duo of Ricky Karandasuwardi and Angga Pratama, which they lost 12-21 17-21.

According to the new BWF rule which was implemented last year, 'the whole of the shuttle shall be below 1.15 metres from the surface of the court at the instant of being hit by the server's racket'.

Gopichand said: "I think Sumeeth was a little unlucky yesterday. I think when umpires don't call you in the entire week and they call you on a particular day, I think there's something wrong with the standard of umpiring in terms of consistency."

Talking about the performance of the home shuttlers at the India Open, Gopichand said: "Few of the Indians lost to each other so I would have liked ...