Badminton Scandal: Eight Women Disqualified For Throwing Matches

The field for Olympic Badminton gold just got a little smaller. Four teams, consisting of eight athletes, were disqualified from the 2012 London Olympics today by the Badminton World Federation for deliberately trying to lose their matches.

Indonesia, China, and two teams from South Korea were disqualified.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said:

”We applaud the federation for having taken swift and decisive action… Such behavior is incompatible with the Olympic values.”

The Inquisitr reported earlier that the badminton scandal involved teams trying to deliberately lose in order to get a better match-up in the semi-finals.

IOC Vice President Craig Reedie, who once headed the international badminton federation, said:

”Sport is competitive… If you lose the competitive element, then the whole thing becomes a nonsense…. You cannot allow a player to abuse the tournament like that, and not take firm action. So good on them.”

Fox Sports reports that the Indonesia team would appeal the decision.

Erick Thohir, the head of Indonesia’s Olympic team, said:

”China has been doing this so many times and they never get sanctioned by the BWF… On the first game yesterday when China did it, the BWF didn’t do anything. If the BWF do something on the first game and they say you are disqualified, it is a warning for everyone.”

Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China, Jung Kyun-eun and Kim Ha-na of South Korea, Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung of South Korea, and Indonesia’s Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii were disqualified from competition.

The badminton competition continues later today. It is unclear how the remainder of the tournament will be played out.

The badminton scandal isn’t the only controversy surrounding the 2012 London Olympic Games. Several people have accused Chinese Swimmer Ye Shiwen of doping after she set “impossible” times. As of now, no charges have been filed against Shiwen.

What do you think of the badminton scandal? Is losing an effective strategy for winning gold at the Olympics?