EIGHT PLAYERS INVOLVED in a match-fixing scandal at the Olympic badminton tournament have been disqualified, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) confirmed today.
But the eight players — four from South Korea, two from Indonesia and two from China — are appealing the decision, the body said.
The BWF will hold a press conference later in the day, to answer questions both about the scandal – one of which may be whether the athletes will lose their right to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio – and the outcome of the appeal hearing.
The eight badminton players at the heart of the scandal had been charged with “not using one’s best efforts to win a match” and “conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport.” Angry spectators jeered and booed the players after they appeared to deliberately serve into the net or hit the shuttlecock long or wide.
They were allegedly attempting to manipulate the final standings in the first-round group stage, with two pairs who had already qualified apparently wanting to lose to secure a favourable draw in the next round. The Group A match between the powerful Chinese top seeds Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli and unseeded South Korean pair Jung Kyung and Kim Ha-Na came under scrutiny by the BWF after the Chinese lost heavily.
The longest rally in the match was just four shots. Their defeat meant Yu and Wang avoided playing fellow Chinese pair Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei, who had finished second in Group D, in the quarter-finals which are due to be played later today. Yu said after the match:
“We’ve already qualified, so why would we waste energy? It’s not necessary to go out hard again when the knockout rounds are tomorrow.”
After the match, South Korean head coach Sung Han-Kook reportedly said: “It’s not the Olympic spirit to play like this. How could the number one pair in the world play like this?”
China’s Olympic delegation has launched an investigation into the allegations, state media said.
“The Chinese Olympic Committee… opposes any kind of behaviour to violate the sporting spirit and morality,” Xinhua news agency quoted a Chinese Olympic spokesman as saying. London Olympics chairman Sebastian Coe described the scandal as “depressing” and “unacceptable” but officials said spectators who had paid to watch the farcical matches would not be refunded.
“It’s depressing,” Coe said. “Who wants to sit through something like that? It is unacceptable.”
Proper order.
not right at all. how come no one complains when bolt et al slow down at the end of heats and come in second or third. likewise in swimming. its the upfront’s fault for making a system that fan end up like this. every match should be knockout. we now have the best players denied medals.
Barry, it’s different in a competition of speed where you are always up against everyone else. The fastest times across all heats go through, not the top finishers in each heat. In a knock out sport like badminton they were trying to avoid a hard game to get themselves closer to the medals. You can’t avoid competing with someone in a race.
@Barry, there’s a huge difference between slowing up in the last few meters of a swim or run and purposely losing a match to get a more favourable draw. It blatant cheating. beating everyone in sight and proving you are the best in the world is what real Olympians do.
I agree that possibly it isn’t fair to compare the running swimming but I don’t agree for a second that it is cheating. it is a manipulation of the system. I don’t see anyone giving out about Sweden v Japan last night where both teams were so clearly going for a draw. they certainly were not competing.
I do feel sorry for the spectators who paid a lot if money to watch it though
@ barry Kelleher – having seen what happened in one particular match the equivalent in athletics or swimming would be people walking or just floating in the water, two teams standing right up to the net just hitting the ball into the net, there is no comparison for that in athletics or swimming. It was disgraceful.
I have to say I agree with Barry. The current system makes it worth their while to lose and therefore it can seem like a good strategy for doing what they did. They are there to win medals. I think the system needs to be changed, Barry suggested every round is a knockout and again I agree with him, because that would ensure everyone is playing to win all the time.
Match-fixing is such a racket!
Me thinks they made a complete shuttle-COCK UP.
Bidish !!!!! Try the Veal.
I’m here for the week.
They used the system, don’t agree with what they did but its been done in major soccer championships and no one got thrown out.
Yeah but soccer Is a corrupt and dishonourable sport anyway where cheating is rewarded and called ‘gamesmanship’……
Badminton is a boring sport to watch just like cricket. It is crap
It’s not crap just because u may not be ur preference should never say a sport is crap have ur own favourites by all means but it is one of the sports where u have to be very fit athletic and very good hand eye coordination
I think you will find that badminton is the fastest racquet sport in the world. Can’t be all that dull.
Good man Darren, I’m with you there.
Whats the point of a ball made of feathers? Its just not right.
And dressage.
The Munster rugby team in their prime used to play badminton to improve their footwork and reaction times. When mcgahern took over it stopped
It and look what happen :)
what about the last 10 minutes of the Ireland Holland game back in Italia 90 – we all cheered while they passed the ball like a training exercise!
what about any other tournament where a team already qualified rotates its squad?
to answer my own question i guess theres a line between not trying to win – and trying to lose!
Whether this is cheating or not is irrelevant…it’s against the spirit of sport and in particular the spirit of the Olympics…a very simple way to prevent this happening again is to change the competition to adopt a solely knock out format like in boxing where the player(s) who win all their games win the gold medal…this will eliminate any attempt by players to throw a game while ensuring that the best player in the competition (theoretically) wins gold
Personally I believe it was a form of cheating and they were right to be thrown out of the games
It’s hard to criticise an athlete for this, I mean how could you and why would you spend all your energy to try get a tougher opponent. It shouldn’t be organised so this can happen as some comments have said all knockout matches is one way of ensuring this!
Sanctioned by the Badminton organisation, but I didn’t hear that the IOC had sanctioned them?
Heard that the IOC handed it over to the badminton federation for them to determine the correct sanctions.
Basically, not giving 100% is wrong but understandable. Deliberately losing is another thing