SALON

Wednesday, Aug 1, 2012 8:45 AM UTC

Match throwing scandal mars badminton

The scandal has enmeshed players from China, South Korea and Indonesia

By

Topics: From the Wires, Summer Olympics 2012, Sports, Asia,

Match throwing scandal mars badminton Head badminton referee Torsten Berg, right, talks to Indonesia's Greysia Polii, left, after he issued a black card to Polii and her partner Meiliana Jauhari as well as Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung, of South Korea, unseen, during their women's doubles badminton match at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 31, 2012, in London. At right is an unidentified South Korean coach. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)(Credit: AP)

LONDON (AP) — Eight women badminton players, including the reigning world champions from China, faced a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday after being charged with trying to throw their matches at the London Olympics a day earlier to secure a favorable draw.

The Badminton World Federation said in a statement it had charged the doubles players from China, South Korea and Indonesia under its players’ code of conduct 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.”

The hearing began on Wednesday at a hotel near the Wembley Arena badminton venue in north London. The South Korean team was first to be interviewed by BWF officials. Players and officials from China and Indonesia were due to be interviewed later.

A spokeswoman for the federation, Gayle Alleyne, declined comment on possible sanctions ahead of the disciplinary hearings.

The International Olympic Committee said it would allow badminton’s ruling body to deal with the controversy.

“We have full confidence in the federation to take any necessary steps,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. “They have the experience to deal with such issues.”

Australian badminton coach Lasse Bundgaard was at the arena during the matches and was so upset with what he saw that he has lodged a protest with the federation.

“There are no Australians left in the draw, but Lasse felt that it was important for the integrity of the sport,” Australian team official Kitty Chiller said.

The doubles pairs were all due to compete in quarterfinals Wednesday afternoon. Spectators at London’s Wembley Arena booed when they realized players were apparently deliberately trying to lose.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency cited an unnamed spokesman for the Chinese delegation as saying the delegation was taking the incident seriously and had ordered its own investigation.

“The Chinese delegation will handle this case according to the results of the investigation into this match,” the spokesman said.

Teams blamed the introduction of a round-robin stage rather than a straight knockout tournament as the main cause of the problem.

In the round-robin format, losing one game can lead to an easier matchup in the next round.

On Tuesday, Chinese players were accused of starting the problem by deliberately losing a game. This led to other teams behaving in a similar way to try to force an easier quarterfinal. At one stage both teams appeared to be trying to lose a game.

World doubles champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China and their South Korean opponents Jung Kyun-eun and Kim Ha-na were booed loudly by the crowd Tuesday after dumping serves into the net and making simple errors like hitting the shuttlecock wide.

The longest rally in their first game was only four strokes. The umpire warned them and tournament referee Torsten Berg spoke to all four players but it had little effect. At one stage Berg showed a black card which usually means disqualification, but the game continued.

Eventually, the Chinese women lost 21-14, 21-11 and both pairs were jeered off the court.

The teams had already qualified for the last 16, but the result ensured that the top-seeded Wang and Yu will avoid playing their No. 2-seeded Chinese teammates until the final.

The problem was repeated in the next women’s doubles between South Korea’s Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung and Indonesia’s Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii. Both teams were also warned for deliberately losing points in a match the Koreans won 18-21, 21-14, 21-12. The capacity crowd vented their displeasure on them, too.

“If they play right, the Chinese team, this wouldn’t happen,” said South Korea head coach Sung Han-kook. “So we did the same because we don’t want to play Korea. Nobody likes playing against strong players.”

Berg and the Badminton World Federation said they were going to investigate.

Yu said they were only trying to save energy for the knockout rounds starting on Wednesday.

“We would try hard in every match if they were elimination games,” she said. “Because they are group stage that’s why we are conserving energy.

“If we’re not playing the best it’s because it doesn’t matter — if we’re the first or the second (in the group) we’re already through. The most important thing is the elimination match tomorrow.”

The South Koreans filed a protest with the referees.

“It’s not like the Olympics spirit to play like this,” Sung Han-kook said. “How could the No. 1 pair in the world play like this? They start playing mistakes.”

Australia coach Lasse Bundgaard blamed the group format for the controversy.

“It’s not good when you create a tournament where the players are put in this situation,” he said. “If you can win a medal by losing, but not by winning, that’s not a good situation to be put in.

“I totally understand why they are doing it. Now the Indonesians are doing the same but it’s not a good situation to be put in.”

Jauhari said she couldn’t understand why the South Korean coaches protested their amount of errors.

Indonesia’s Polii added: “The referee said to us you are not playing very seriously and since he said that we felt intimidated and disturbed.”

Beijing badminton silver medallist Gail Emms said the games had been embarrassing to watch and that the players could be thrown out of the tournament when the disciplinary meeting is held later Wednesday before the rest of the day’s games are held.

“It was absolutely shocking,” she said. “The crowds were booing and chanting ‘Off, Off, Off.’” She said the players concerned were deliberately hitting serves into the net, serving them out or serving faults.

“This is London 2012,” Emms said. “For the future of our sport and the Olympic Games something needs to be done.”

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge had been at the badminton on Tuesday but had left shortly before the drama unfolded.

More Mike Corder.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Slave descendants seek equal rights from Cherokee Nation
58 points59 points | 3 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
41 points42 points | 6 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator who voted against federal funding for Hurricane Sandy victims: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
36 points37 points | comment
vote
"Apparently, we have deserving and undeserving disasters, Oklahoma senators James Inhofe and Tom Coburn explain"
29 points30 points | 2 comments
vote
Obama opposes GOP bill on Keystone XL oil pipeline: The White House said Tuesday that the bill “seeks to circumvent longstanding and proven processes” by removing a requirement for a presidential permit. The legislation also says no new environmental studies are needed.
20 points21 points | 2 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations