The Badminton World Federation (BWF) Wednesday disqualified four pairs of women badminton players for deliberately trying to lose their games at the London 2012 Olympics. A team from China, two teams from South Korea, and one from Indonesia were involved.
Delegation from China accepted the punishment, the other two countries appealed about the disqualification. The BWF rejected the South Korean appeal and Indonesia withdrew their appeal.
"The behavior by Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli on court violated the Olympics ideal and the spirit of fair competition,” said Chinese delegation in statement. “The Chinese delegation feels distressed over this matter."
International Olympic Committee (IOC), competition teams from other countries, and also badminton audiences welcomed the decision.
"We applaud the federation for having taken swift and decisive action. Such behavior is incompatible with the Olympic values," said IOC spokesman Mark Adams, according to The Associated Press.
"Sport is competitive. If you lose the competitive element, then the whole thing becomes a nonsense,” AP quoted IOC Vice President Craig Reedie, the former head of the BWF.
"You cannot allow a player to abuse the tournament like that, and not take firm action. So good on them.”
“It is a good decision and the right thing to do. It sends the right signal that world badminton won’t accept that kind of behavior,” said Australia coach Lars Bundgaard.
Nevertheless, there are also other censures toward BWF say that the root of the athletes unusual action is the unreasonable setup from the federation.
“Don’t hate the player, hate the game. It’s the fault of the BWF, it’s the setup.” said Jan Jorgensen of Denmark after losing his match in the men’s singles today.
Lin Dan, the Olympic men’s badminton champion in singles said the rule of competition is going to damage the sport.
"Especially for the audience,” said Dan through an interpreter, “this is definitely not within the Olympic spirit. But like I said before, it's not one-sided. Whoever sets the rule should make it knockout so whoever doesn't try will just leave the Olympics."
The format of the Olympic Badminton tournament was changed from a knock-out to a round robin, hoping to allow spectators to see more of the top players. However, the top players including former champions will not been seen in the doubles competitions of London Games.
The disqualified players include Yu Yang, 26, and her partner Wang Xiaoli, 23, who are the world champions from China. Jung Kyung-Eun, Kim Ha-Na, both 22, the top seeds of this game from South Korea were also disqualified. Another South Korean team Ha Jung Eun, 25, and Kim Min Jung, 26, and a team from Indonesia, also a strong country in the badminton competition, are Meiliana Jauhari,24, and the same age Greysia Polii.
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