10 Badminton Hand Signals  You Should Know!

If a player takes too long to serve, the umpire swings their arm from right to left. Time to hurry up!

Delay of Service

Step on the service line or lift your foot too early? The umpire points straight down at your feet. Fault!

Foot Fault

If your serve goes above waist height, the service judge raises one hand to call it out. Keep it low!

Serve Above the Waist

If your racket face is angled upward during serve, the judge points downward. It’s a fault you will serve again.

Racket Too High

When the shuttle lands outside the boundary, the line judge spreads both arms wide to signal “out.”

Shuttle Is Out

If the shuttle touches the line or lands in, the line judge points straight down at the court. Point counts!

Shuttle Is In

The line judge couldn’t see it clearly? The line judge places both hands over their eyes, with palms facing outward.

Unsure Call

In doubles, players signal serve types behind their back, one finger for short, two for flick, and so on.

Doubles Serve Signals

Players raise a hand to request a review if they think a call is wrong. Each side gets two challenges.

Challenge a Call

Bad behaviour? The umpire shows a yellow card to warn the player. One more and it could lead to penalties.

Yellow Card Warning