8 women badminton players disqualified for 'throwing' matches

Unsportsman-like.

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.

Exactly, every smart team should do the same! There should be no critics before this question is answered. A round roubin system would definitely avoid such issues.

It's simply unsportsmanlike and for the money that people have to pay these days it should be considered illegal. Misdemeanor of course, but still illegal. Anytime someone steps on a playing field there's an inherent promise to do one's best. If not, please forfeit.

And by the way, how different is this compared to Japan's women's football team "not doing their best?" I didn't get to see the badminton match so I'm not sure how much more blatant it was. From all indications Japan did not do their best.

“But it’s particularly embarrassing that it should happen in an Olympics. It’s time the BWF took a strong stand. And maybe the IOC will consider whether this is in breach of the Olympic code of fair play.”

Ah, the IOC has no small part to blame for choosing this system of draws.

They need to review the way the draws work to stop this happening but I'm not sure how it would work. I'm sure it happens in a lot of sports/games but surely not as blatant as these games were. I feel sorry for the crowd, making the effort to go watch some games where both teams wanted to lose.

Why not let the team/pair with the best qualifying record choose their quarter-final opponents? Then the next-best team, until the fixtures are all decided? That'd certainly remove any temptation to take it easy.

And by the way, how different is this compared to Japan's women's football team "not doing their best?"

It's different because there's only one Japan's women's football team. There are two pairs of Chinese.

The Chinese players were in fact doing their best-to win gold. Why should they be punished for having the foresight to realize that they would have an easier time reaching the finals by throwing the match? Furthermore, they were being good teammates, because in throwing the match, they gave their teammates a better shot to reach the finals. Are the IOC and the BWF really going to penalize the Chinese for being good teammates? Just the notion is simply outrageous.

Sky Cao,

"in throwing the match, they gave their teammates a better shot to reach the finals" is highly unsportsmanlike and illegal behaviour, which can only be condemned in the strongest possible manner.

Were there any betting rings involved, I wonder?

@sky cao

this would be fine if people weren't paying to see the best players in the world actually "playing." if you wanna throw a match in china, then go ahead, but if you are playing in front of an international audience, then you should give it your all.

The IOC & sport federations really have to get their %$## together & come up with touraments where winning always is the only option, forget the round robin CRAP, start straight knockout, you lose, then you watch from the sidelines!

There done!

These are the same tactics the Soviet Union used to employ in international chess competitions to ensure its players' domination, or so claimed American grandmaster Bobby Fischer.

Badminiton - meh!!

Most of the time it's both teams trying to win. If only one had been gunning for a loss it would have been unfair, but since both the teams were doing their best to lose it led to one of the funniest matches I'd ever seen, I even slipped on the Benny Hill theme at one point and sped the match up slightly on my Sky+.

Well, I guess if there's any plus to this it's that if they're all trying to throw the matches they'll all end up being drawn against each other anyway. It is truly bad sportsmanship. Maybe their punishments should be to be placed with the most difficult teams?

What is the root reasons of the change -- the IOC should also review the new draw system ( single elimination that complicated the teams' tactics ). Similar chaotic scenario took place for Judo.. The teams involved are S. Korean (2), Indonesian (1) & China (1) -- all are the strongest teams, they understood very well the color of the medals they win will be the sole proof of success at home..all other things are called 'tactics'

The Japanese men's soccer team has some lazy slugs that never run, and always show that tsukareru attitude. They should be reprimanded too.

change it to a seeding/ one loss and you're out system.

Last I checked those two countries scold their athletes for not getting gold. I'm just saying.

It's sad to see such a poor example of sportsmanship at the Olympics. The rules need to be changed so that each game is an elimination game. In the meantime, all 4 of those teams should be disqualified.

Imagine the Dream Team throwing a game to avoid a team like Spain till the finals...............

system, not players

@Sky Cao

I've never read such nonsense. Here's a well-known saying for you: "It's not the winning or losing that counts, it's how you play the game."

Those players need to learn about integrity, dignity and sportsmanship. And so do their supporters.

What is the root reasons of the change [to a round robin system, from the knockout system]

I'm speculating here, but if the teams stay in the competition longer then TV companies back home can charge more for TV advertising when their home teams are playing. More matches = more money. Or maybe there's some kind of deal where countries pay for coverage per event, which fills the coffers of the IOC. I don't know for sure though. Just guessing.

Sheesh... that's a more serious tact than I thought they'd take, and not sure if it's too harsh, but it could well put a stop to similar antics in the future, and the women really were undermining the spirit of the Games. Shame to lose so many decent players, but I guess if they brought it on themselves...

And by the way, how different is this compared to Japan's women's football team "not doing their best?" I didn't get to see the badminton match so I'm not sure how much more blatant it was. From all indications Japan did not do their best.

Movieguy

Perhaps it's best to watch the match first, then comment.

http://www.businessinsider.com/eight-badminton-players-disqualified-from-olympics-2012-8

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 quarterfinals.

Angry spectators jeered and booed the players after they appeared to deliberately serve into the net or hit the shuttlecock long or wide.

The lackluster play was obvious to the knowlegeable fans. They knew "something" was wrong and this type of play was not what they had come to see. Certainly not the play of the best players in the world.

According to Olympic rules and ideals, the Chinese players cheated with the help of one team from Indonesia and two teams from South Korea. The Indonesian and South Korean players will now be known as players who can be bought off and should never be trusted by their homes countries and fans to represent their countries again. Since this was an attempt to help the other Chinese team also, why weren't both Chinese teams disqualified?

Thanks for the vid nigelboy. Laughable match that could have been kind of fun to watch if you were in the mood for it.

The Olympic organizers of this event should've known from the start that they'd be setting themselves up for the likelihood of this happening. I can see them switching back to the single elimination format of old, as table tennis have done. There truly is no need for a round robin format in the Olympics. That being said, what these teams did was not in the best interests of the Olympic spirit at all

instead of punishing just the players caught cheating why not penalize the entire country's atheletes.. strip the country of all its medals even if one player is caught (doesn't matter what sport).. doping, cheating, whatever. They want to make these games as fair and clean as possible, put such harsh measures in place to deter even the thought

p.s I think the olympics are a waste of time

Wow. Didn't expect this.

Honestly, I fault the organizers as much, if not more than, the players: why on earth would you set up a system that encourages players to lose?

Still, there is a difference between not giving it your all and blatantly losing a match on purpose. Clearly these women were on the wrong side of that line.

Movieguy,

". . . how different is this compared to Japan's women's football team "not doing their best?""

It's not much different at all. The badminton players were simply more blatant about it. Nadeshiko is just as guilty, IMO, of essentially making every effort to not win. Their coach admitted as much in post-game interviews. How is it differnet? It's not. Nadeshiko, although I love them as a team -- when they're actually playing, rather than trying to "not win" -- should get bumped jus like the badminton players for their obviously intentional piss-poor performance against South Africa. To throw a game like that is insulting to the South African women's team, to the Olympics, and to the fans.

Oh well, they're DQed, so that's that.

Thanks Nigel. That was truly painful.

@Sky Cao

You seem to have missed the fact that this is the Olympics, not professional sports (whose primary goal is to win at all costs and make piles of money for all concerned in the process).

If you look at the Olympic Charter, it says nothing about winning, but a lot about the Olympic spirit, friendship, solidarity, and fair play. While these terms aren't clearly defined, I'm pretty sure they don't include throwing matches.

Usually, I'm cynical about the Olympic movement, which at times seems to be an unfortunate alliance of out-of-control commercialism and nationalism, so I was pleased to see that the BWF was willing to take such decisive action.

aedfed.

How come most of the athletes are professionals now?

Agree it is money making venture but a far cry from when only amateurs could compete and maybe make it into pro status. The true Olympic spirit I remember those times.

Hence why I prefer the paralympics events, those guys are all amateurs and rival/equal the guys/gals in the Olympics. But very few media coverage of those.

My first reaction to this was Well of course they should play to win, that's what they're there for..... But now I'm not so sure. It's not like they were throwing the match for a bribe; it was a tactical play to try and give themselves an advantage later on, and help them win...which is what they're there for.

If it's OK for, say, a football player, instead of pushing ever on towards goal even though there's a very good chance he'll be tackled by an opponent and lose the ball, instead passes the ball back towards the opposing goal in the hopes that another team member will be able to get the ball nearer to the goal and score, then that's a strategic play aimed at winning. How is that any different from what the badminton women did, except that their strategic play was set against the tournament as a whole rather than within one match?

I'm not saying it was a good thing for them to do; but the way the system is set up, it seems quite sensible if the ultimate aim is to win. It doesn't make for very exciting matches, and I can understand spectators being angry and disappointed; the system needs to change.

Also having players expected to sit on a bus for 8 hours between matches is also poor planning; little wonder the football women wanted to manipulate things a bit.