'Unqualified' umpire?

Gavin Smith will now be a famous man for the wrong reasons.

The English umpire certainly pissed Koo Kien Keat off by flashing a red card in the second round of the men's doubles match at last week's All-England championship. Kien Keat refused to speak to the media leaving Tan Boon Heong to do the talking after the Malaysian pair lost the match.

But checks show that Gavin is only an accredited umpire by the Badminton Europe Confederation as published in the Badminton Umpires Association of England website (pic).

A quick check with the Badminton World Federation website also shows Gavin is not listed in their list of accredited and certificated umpires.

So if Gavin is not qualified to officiate the match, who put him there in the first place? Despite the All-England was held in UK - being a European country - it is a Super Series Premier event.

Imagine an Asian region qualified referee who is not recognised with Fifa officiating a World Cup match?

Don't expect the BA of Malaysia to take this lightly as they lodge a report to BWF as published in today's Mailsport.

HD says: Someone has got a lot of explaining to do.

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