Thailand’s top badminton official said Friday he was trying to save the country’s tarnished image after an on-court brawl between former Olympics doubles partners, which he called unprecedented in the past half-century of Thai badminton.
Friday’s comments by Charoen Wattanasin, president of the Badminton Association of Thailand, came a day after the world badminton body opened two disciplinary cases against the players for their outburst during the Canada Open men’s doubles final.
The fight was caught on video and has hundreds of thousands of viewers online.
The footage shows Bodin Issara lunging at his ex-partner Maneepong Jongjit and chasing him around the court, then onto a neighboring court before punching him and kicking him several times on the ground.