Teams who tried to lose kicked out of the Games
August 2, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Four doubles teams were disqualified from the London Games yesterday after trying to lose matches.
The Badminton World Federation punished the eight players after investigating two teams from South Korea and one each from China and Indonesia. South Korea and Indonesia appealed, but China accepted the federation's decision.
South Korea's appeal was later rejected, and Indonesia withdrew its challenge.
The eight disqualified players are world doubles champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China and their South Korean opponents Jung Kyun-eun and Kim Ha-na, along with South Korea's Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung and Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.
The players went before a disciplinary hearing yesterday, a day after spectators booed their performance after it became clear they were deliberately trying to lose.
"We applaud the federation for having taken swift and decisive action," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. "Such behavior is incompatible with the Olympic values."
The competition was to continue with four previously eliminated teams in the quarterfinals.
IOC Vice President Craig Reedie, former head of the international badminton federation, welcomed the decision to kick the four teams out.
"Sport is competitive," Reedie said. "If you lose the competitive element, then the whole thing becomes a nonsense."
Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London organizers, called what happened "depressing," adding "who wants to sit through something like that?"
Teams blamed the introduction of a round-robin stage rather than a knockout tournament as the cause of the problem. The round-robin format can allow results to be manipulated to earn an easier matchup in the knockout round.
The Chinese players tried to rig the draw after its second-seeded pair unexpectedly lost to a Danish team in the morning. That placed the No. 2 pair on course for a semifinal meeting with Wang and Yu, instead of the final.
Wang and Yu deliberately set out to lose so they would go into the bottom half of the draw. They hardly exerted themselves, and neither did the South Koreans, drawing jeers of derision from the crowd and warnings from the umpire and tournament referee Torsten Berg. Wang and Yu eventually got what they wanted by losing.
An hour later, the South Korean team of Ha and Kim took to the court and decided to also try to lose to the Indonesians to avoid meeting Wang and Yu in the quarterfinals. Early on, all four players were warned by the umpire for not trying hard, and Berg returned to produce black cards to disqualify both pairs, but the cards were rescinded on a promise of better play.
In the third game, Berg reappeared to urge them to finish, and the Indonesians ended up being better at losing than Ha and Kim, who fell into the playoff they didn't want with the world champions.
One of the world's top male players, 2004 Olympic singles champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, called the situation a "circus match."
Beijing badminton silver medalist Gail Emms said the matches were embarrassing to watch.
"It was absolutely shocking," she said. "The crowds were booing and chanting 'Off, off, off.'"
The Badminton World Federation punished the eight players after investigating two teams from South Korea and one each from China and Indonesia. South Korea and Indonesia appealed, but China accepted the federation's decision.
South Korea's appeal was later rejected, and Indonesia withdrew its challenge.
The eight disqualified players are world doubles champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China and their South Korean opponents Jung Kyun-eun and Kim Ha-na, along with South Korea's Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung and Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.
The players went before a disciplinary hearing yesterday, a day after spectators booed their performance after it became clear they were deliberately trying to lose.
"We applaud the federation for having taken swift and decisive action," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. "Such behavior is incompatible with the Olympic values."
The competition was to continue with four previously eliminated teams in the quarterfinals.
IOC Vice President Craig Reedie, former head of the international badminton federation, welcomed the decision to kick the four teams out.
"Sport is competitive," Reedie said. "If you lose the competitive element, then the whole thing becomes a nonsense."
Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London organizers, called what happened "depressing," adding "who wants to sit through something like that?"
Teams blamed the introduction of a round-robin stage rather than a knockout tournament as the cause of the problem. The round-robin format can allow results to be manipulated to earn an easier matchup in the knockout round.
The Chinese players tried to rig the draw after its second-seeded pair unexpectedly lost to a Danish team in the morning. That placed the No. 2 pair on course for a semifinal meeting with Wang and Yu, instead of the final.
Wang and Yu deliberately set out to lose so they would go into the bottom half of the draw. They hardly exerted themselves, and neither did the South Koreans, drawing jeers of derision from the crowd and warnings from the umpire and tournament referee Torsten Berg. Wang and Yu eventually got what they wanted by losing.
An hour later, the South Korean team of Ha and Kim took to the court and decided to also try to lose to the Indonesians to avoid meeting Wang and Yu in the quarterfinals. Early on, all four players were warned by the umpire for not trying hard, and Berg returned to produce black cards to disqualify both pairs, but the cards were rescinded on a promise of better play.
In the third game, Berg reappeared to urge them to finish, and the Indonesians ended up being better at losing than Ha and Kim, who fell into the playoff they didn't want with the world champions.
One of the world's top male players, 2004 Olympic singles champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, called the situation a "circus match."
Beijing badminton silver medalist Gail Emms said the matches were embarrassing to watch.
"It was absolutely shocking," she said. "The crowds were booing and chanting 'Off, off, off.'"
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