A spat between two of Thailand’s top badminton players turned ugly Sunday when Bodin “Art” Issara and Maneepong “A” Jongjit started a fistfight during an international competition in Vancouver, Canada.
Reports said Art and A glared at each other and exchanged heated words mid-match at the Canada Open 2013 Badminton Men’s Double Final.
The brawl, which was captured on camera and uploaded to Youtube, shows Art suddenly letting go of his racket and chasing A into another court. Art then threw punches and kicked his former playing partner until tournament staff intervened.
The match official disqualified the two athletes.
According to medical staff, A received two stitches to his ear.
Art was partnering with Pakkawat “Top” Wilailak in the match and A’s partner was Nipitphon “Tonnam” Puangpuapech.
After the fight the blame for the embarrassment devolved into a grade school he-said she-said.
A told reporters on Monday that Art started the fight and also gave him the middle finger.
Top, who was Art’s partner, said it was A who first raised the finger as the teams switched to the opposite sides of the court.
Top said the YouTube video did not record the action of A who allegedly used his racket to hit Art.
Charoen Wattanasin, president of the Badminton Association of Thailand, said he was informed that Art and A were trying to agitate each other throughout the match and they also received a warning from a referee for a verbal exchange.
In January this year, Art and A, both aged 22, were ranked eighth in the world in the men’s doubles.
They won the men’s doubles title at the Indian Open in 2012 and that win sent them to the 2012 Olympics, where they reached the quarter-finals, the Bangkok Post reported.
