Zheng Siwei (right) / Huang Yaqiong of China attend the awarding ceremony after the mixed doubles final match against Dechapol Puavaranukroh / Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand at the BWF Thailand Open Badminton Championships 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand, May 22, 2022. (RACHEN SAGEAMSAK / XINHUA)

BEIJING – The Chinese Badminton Association filed a complaint on Friday to the Badminton World Federation about unfair penalty against Chinese mixed doubles pair Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong at the Denmark Open.

Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong received nine service fault calls, and Chinese coach Yang Ming was shoved by his Danish counterpart Thomas Stavngarrd while speaking to the referee in the round of 16 match against Danish duo Mikkel Mikkelsen and Rikke Soby in Odense on Thursday local time

Zheng and Huang received nine service fault calls, and Chinese coach Yang Ming was shoved by his Danish counterpart Thomas Stavngarrd while speaking to the referee in the round of 16 match against Danish duo Mikkel Mikkelsen and Rikke Soby in Odense on Thursday local time.

Zheng and Huang managed to defeat the home pair 21-10, 19-21, 21-19.

Given that the Chinese pair are experienced competitors and have never had so many service faults called in previous tournaments, the Chinese Badminton Association questioned Sara Shahhosseini's fairness as the service judge.

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The Chinese badminton governing body also argued that Stavngarrd provoked a physical altercation, which was live recorded and had negative impacts, but referee Raymond Van Eijk did not intervene in time to stop it.

Danish head coach Kenneth Jonassen apologized on Chinese social media on Saturday, saying they would apologize again in person to coach Yang at next week's French Open, while not mentioning Stavngarrd in his statement, but instead referring to "the Danish coach engaging in the incident."

The Chinese Badminton Association requested that the BWF should immediately prohibit the two above-mentioned referees from officiating any match involving the Chinese team in any form, investigate whether the two referees have been involved in match-fixing, review and examine the service judge's officiating based on the videos, and that the service judge should provide a reasonable explanation for the nine service fault calls.

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Zheng and Huang will next meet Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai of Malaysia in the semifinals after knocking out French pair Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue on Friday local time.