Official "headbutt" inquiry

BADMINTON

The Badminton Association of England is to attempt to establish the facts of the incident in the English National Championships at Norwich last Saturday in which the father of England's leading women's singles player, Joanne Muggeridge, alledgedly head-butted a well- known coach, Tom John, writes James Leigh.

Vic Muggeridge has denied the allegations but the association is determined to preserve its well-behaved image.

Eye-witnesses, including leading players and coaches, insist they saw Muggeridge butt John before the pair scuffled. It has emerged that Muggeridge was warned two years ago about his behaviour at tournaments and threatened with an arena ban.

"We don't know all the facts yet, BA of E president Peter Birtwistle said. "It's no good making rash judgements. We will try to find out exactly what happened and then decide what to do. If the stories are true I believe we have the power to ban them from future tournaments."