Badminton's elite come under severe scrutiny at this week's All England [Images] championships after unruly scenes at January's Korean Open final between world number one Lin Dan and hot property Lee Hyun-il of South Korea.

Officials struggled to restore order in Seoul amid unprecedented scuffles and bitter exchanges as players and coaches argued following a series of tight line calls.

The Badminton World Federation's (BWF) ruling council announced on Monday the creation of a four-strong special group called the Major Incident Research Team and is considering introducing the technology used in tennis and cricket to decide close calls.

Meetings in Birmingham during the All England tournament will seek ways of avoiding a repetition of the Korean scenes and players and officials will be reminded how on-court issues, particularly in this Olympic year, can mar the sport.

Disciplinary action could still follow the Seoul bust-up while the BWF is thinking of having umpires operating as line judges from the semi-final stage of all major events.

BWF Sport Committee chairwoman Anne Smillie, noting a trend, told the BWF web site (www.internationalbadminton.org): "We all want to see the result determined by the players, not by courtside officials, or by who can argue the loudest".

China's Lin, beaten finalist in Seoul, begins the defence of his All England title with a tricky match against tall Indian Anup Sridhar who gave him a scare at last year's world championships after earlier disposing of Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia.

World champion Lin is drawn to meet Seoul conqueror Lee in Saturday's semi-finals in what would be one of the most intriguing clashes for some time.

Neither need worry, however, about former champion Peter Gade of Denmark who pulled out on Monday with an unspecified illness.

The All England tournament is the sport's most venerable, dating back to 1899, and these days forms part of the Super Series which culminates in the finals in December.

All England qualifying begins on Tuesday with the first round proper starting on Wednesday.