India's Prannoy slams lack of Hawkeye in China as shuttlers suffer contentious line calls at Badminton Asia Championships

Indian shuttlers have been having a hard time at the Badminton Asia Championships at Ningbo, China due to contentious line calls, with senior player HS Prannoy slamming the tournament organisers for not implementing 'Hawkeye' technology in more courts in the playing arena.

Indian players have been at the receiving end of multiple dubious line calls across the first three days of the tournament, with Prannoy suffering twice in the second set during his Round of 16 loss against China's Weng Hong Yang on Thursday.

The 33-year-old lost to Weng 12-21, 19-21 to bow out of the competition. It was during a critical moment in the second set when Prannoy's shuttle had originally been declared 'In' after landing in the left-back corner of the court, only to be overturned and ruled in favour of the home player shortly after following Weng's objection.

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"It’s 2026 and I still can’t believe there is no Hawkeye’ in court 2 for a Super 1000 event,” Prannoy tweeted following his exit from the tournament which did not have a Decision Review System or Hawkeye tech for matches taking place on Court 2.

The line call wasn't the only contentious moment in the Round of 16 battle between Weng and Prannoy, with the former appearing to deliberately delay receiving Prannoy's serve, ignoring the Indian's pleas to hurry up. This was right after Prannoy had won a point and had the momentum in his favour.

Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu also faces dubious line calls

And it's not just Prannoy who has been left frustrated by the contentious line calls at the continental championships that appeared to favour the home players. Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu too had attempted to direct the chair umpire's attention towards a shuttler that had appeared to drift out during her Round of 16 clash against Wang Zhi Yi, which she lost 18-21, 8-21, only to be ignored completely.

Ayush Shetty had at least three such calls along the back or the side lines during his meeting with Chinese Taipei's Li Shifeng, which either went against him or were overturned, much to his disadvantage. Shetty, however, managed to defeat Chi 21-16, 21-12 regardless to setup a quarter-final showdown against Indonesia's Jonatan Christie.