There are certain sports you expect to be aggressive. Badminton is not one of those sports. After all, how could it be? You’re using a featherweight racket to lob a tiny little thing over a net. Who could get upset doing that?
As it turns out, a lot of people — and no one more so than Spanish badminton player Carolina Marin. Marin is a three-time world champion and often considered one of the best in the sport. She’s also a bit of a hothead, an issue that recently came to light during a match against Indian badminton player PV Sindhu.
Whenever she won a point, Marin would let out an ear-splitting scream — something halfway between a Wilhelm and one of those viral goat videos.
Sindhu wasn’t going to be left out of the fun either. After seeing Marin belt her brains out after every point, Sindhu decided to get in on the action herself, letting out a few yelps as she went point-for-point with Marin.
Just in case you were wondering, this is not okay in the sport. For some reason, officials consider yelling every time you score “unsportsmanlike conduct.”
The umpire initially tried telling the players to “tone down the celebration.” But this didn’t work, as both players — Marin especially — continued to commit a verbal assault against the audience’s eardrums after each point. Marin also pulled a variety of other dick moves, such as serving when Sinhu clearly wasn’t ready and reaching across the net to retrieve the shuttle.
This time, it was Sindhu who called out Marin’s behavior, saying to the ump, “She’s shouting, and you allow her to shout?” Eventually, an argument broke out and both players were given a yellow card.
That said, Marin did win in the end. It may be unsportsmanlike, but hey, if it works, it works.
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