Badminton: Tempers flare courtside

Spectators at the usually sedate badminton venue could be excused for thinking John MacEnroe had switched sports after a flare-up over a disputed point yesterday.


The Australian coach stormed the court during the incident and New Zealand player Nicole Gordon rushed on from the grandstand to intervene.

Gordon's younger sister, Rebecca Bellingham, was dispatching Australia's Kellie Lucas 22-20, 21-12 in their first-round singles match when Australia's fiery Danish coach, Claus Poulsen, intervened after Bellingham was given a point for Lucas' racket encroaching over the net.

Poulsen and a fuming Gordon were given their marching orders by officials and the point stood. "I think she just gets sick of Claus - he gets pretty rarked up sometimes," Bellingham said of her sister.