Faults and lets: when a rally stops and who serves next
Separate a fault, a replay and a suspension, then work out the score and the next server in three singles examples.
Why distinguish the ways play stops?
A rally can end with a winner, be replayed, or be followed by a suspension. These decisions have different effects on the score. Naming the incident before deciding who serves next makes the sequence easier to follow.
The compared Laws from 2002 and 2006 already distinguish faults and lets. Their scoring consequences differ: under the 2002 singles text, a server who lost a rally could lose service without conceding a point; the 2006 text awards a point to the rally winner. Those dated examples explain why an old rule needs its scoring context; they do not date the origin of the let.
Four outcomes to keep separate
- Fault: an infringement loses the rally; under the rally scoring taught here, the other side wins a point.
- Let: play since the last service is cancelled. No point is awarded and the same player serves again.
- Suspension: the umpire temporarily stops play when circumstances require it. The existing score stands; a suspension is distinct from a scheduled interval.
- Service court or order error: when discovered, it is corrected while the shuttle is out of play and the score stands. Do not turn that correction into an automatic let.
Common faults: describe what happened
During play, typical faults include these situations. The list is selective; court-specific obstruction regulations must be checked separately.
- The shuttle lands out, fails to cross the net, touches a ceiling or side wall, or hits a person or object outside the court. A landing on a boundary line is in.
- It touches a player's body or clothing.
- One player hits twice successively, or doubles partners hit successively. Contact with both the racket head and strings during one stroke is an exception.
- The racket holds the shuttle and then throws it.
- A player's racket, body or clothing touches the net or its supports while the shuttle is in play.
- A player contacts the shuttle over the net before it reaches their own side. A follow-through over the net is allowed after initial contact on their own side.
- A player obstructs an opponent's legal stroke, intrudes under the net so as to obstruct or distract, or deliberately distracts an opponent.
The shuttle is out of play when it hits the floor, when a fault or let occurs, or when it hits the net or post and starts falling on the striker's side. A later net touch does not retrospectively change the finished rally.
When to replay, and when to continue
A serve stuck on top of the net is a fault. After the service has been returned, a shuttle left on top, or caught in the net after crossing, is a let in the ordinary badminton considered here. Wheelchair badminton has different provisions and is outside these examples. Merely brushing the net does not require a replay.
A serve delivered before an unready receiver is a let, but attempting a return makes the receiver ready under Law 9.4. Other let situations include both players being faulted during service, a shuttle whose base completely separates during play, and disruption by a coach as judged by the umpire. A damaged feather alone does not establish that separation.
If a line judge is unsighted, first check whether the umpire can decide or the available Instant Review System can resolve the call. A let applies when no decision can be made. Law 14.2.7 also provides for a let when an unforeseen or accidental situation occurs; the umpire calls it. A shuttle arriving from the next court is not automatically a let: the umpire judges whether it is such a situation, for example whether it obstructed or distracted a player. Report a hazard promptly; this example gives no instruction to play through danger.
Who makes the decision and restarts play?
The umpire controls the match and calls faults and lets; appointed service and line judges have their assigned duties. If there is no umpire, a player may call a let. That provision does not establish a rule that every doubtful shuttle must be replayed.
For an unplayable court, the umpire calls the referee, who oversees the tournament. After suspension, the umpire checks the ends and service courts and directs the restart. Players do not grant themselves a recovery break. The benefit of this method is a clear sequence: observation, decision, score, restart. Its limit is that an unseen fact cannot be settled from a score alone.
Three singles examples
Each case is independent, with no other fault. Scores are written A first, B second, as on a board, not as an oral umpire call. Right and left mean the named server's service court.
- The serve stays on top. At 4–4, A serves from A's right service court. The serve remains on top of the net: fault A, 4–5; B serves from B's left service court. Counter-case: an otherwise legal serve clips the net and lands in the correct diagonal receiving service court without a return. A wins: 5–4, A serves from A's left service court.
- The receiver's return stays on top. Again A serves at 4–4; B's return itself remains on top, with no other fault. The reading of Law 14.2.3 used here is a let: 4–4, A serves again from A's right service court. Counter-case: B's return hits the net and starts falling on B's side without remaining on top. B loses the rally: 5–4, A serves from A's left service court.
- Suspension between rallies. A is next to serve at 5–4. Between rallies, the umpire suspends play because the court is temporarily unplayable. The state remains 5–4 with A serving from A's left service court at the restart directed by the umpire. This example does not decide how an unfinished rally is resolved.
Checks before the next serve
Avoid awarding a point for a let, replaying merely because a serve brushed the net, or treating suspension as a player-chosen interval. First establish whether the shuttle was still in play, whether the service had been returned, and which official could observe the incident.
Dated texts and the next step
This lesson uses the BWF Laws dated 26 April 2025, version 5.0(2), especially Laws 9.4, 10, 12–17. The edition effective 4 January 2027 agrees on the selected fault, let and suspension provisions; its future date does not make the whole edition applicable to every 2026 event. The BWF instructions effective 17 November 2025, hosted by Badminton Denmark, support the officiating examples. Check the rules and edition of your event; this lesson supplies no local club variant or disciplinary or medical procedure.
Review rally scoring and the toss, service conditions and the court's lines before applying the examples.
General practice advice: play within your limits and stop if something hurts.