If the shuttle touches the line of short box or long box. Will it be IN or OUT?

by Jithin

Question: If the shuttle touches the line of short box or long box. What will be the result? IN or OUT?
(When we serve, the shuttle touches the outer line of short box or long box. What will it called? It is IN or OUT)

Hi Jithin, thanks for your question.

I’ll probably call it IN as long as the head of the shuttlecock touches the line.

How to Settle Disputes

If you are playing in a social or casual badminton game, it’s difficult to say whether it’s IN or OUT. I suppose no one will be sitting horizontally along the lines to see whether the shuttle falls hits the line.

Sometimes when the shuttle drops very close to the line, it might seem OUT but it may in fact be IN.

An Example
If you watch international badminton tournaments such as the BWF Super Series or Badminton World Championships, some players argue that the line judges made wrong calls.

Line judges do make mistakes sometimes. However, there are times where line judges are absolutely correct with their decisions, but players still protest.

There’s a higher chance that the player sees wrongly (especially when the player is far away from the shuttle’s landing point).

My point is, people do make mistakes when deciding whether the shuttle lands in or out, especially when shuttle drops extremely close to the line.

In a social or casual badminton session, the best solution is to let the player nearest to the line to decide whether it is in or out. If arguments arise, re-play the rally. After all, you just want to have fun, right?

We’ve had a similar question before, click here if you would like to have a look at the other question