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World Championships: Dutch, Thai Tangle Over Courts

** This NEW SHUTTLENWS report is presented by YANG YANG Badminton Products and their Western USA agents BADMINTON ALLEY. **

May 18, 1999 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Players from the Dutch and Thai teams had a confrontation over use of practice courts yesterday at the world badminton championships near Copenhagen, Denmark. The incident occurred when the Thai team showed up at the practice venue and found some Dutch players using the courts that were assigned to the Thais for that time period.

According to tournament competitors who were at the practice facility, some of the Dutch players refused to give up all of the allocated courts and one of the Dutch players had a heated discussion with a Danish guide who was helping the Thai team. The Dutch player was also reported to have pushed the Danish guide and that the incident had started to turn into an ugly confrontation.

The Dutch had contended that because there were more Dutch players than Thai players, the Dutch should have more practice courts and more practice time.

Usually, tournament organizers assign specific courts and times to the teams. The teams normally observe these assignments and give up the courts when the assigned contingent show up for their practices. Teams will also usually allow other teams to use some of their assigned courts if they are not going to use them.

Some former international players commented that the Dutch players should have given up the courts to the team who had been assigned those courts for that time. They also observed that the Dutch players must have been practising on their own without a senior coach or team official who would have told them to give up the courts or negotiated with tournament and team officials for additional court time.

The tournament organizers have passed a report on the incident to the Dutch team officials. They have also arranged the practice schedule so that the two teams practice away from from each other.

(ds)