IOC may take further action in badminton row

Olympic Committee president says women players who were disqualified for throwing matches could be expelled from Games.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) could take further action against women badminton players disqualified from the London Games for throwing matches, the body’s president has said.

Jacques Rogge said the eight players could possibly be expelled from the Olympics for deliberately trying to lose their group matches and gain an advantage in the knockout round.

China’s top-seeded duo, two doubles pairs from South Korea and one pair from Indonesia were disqualified by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) earlier on Wednesday.

While the players have already been disqualified from the competition, the IOC has the power to formally expel athletes from the Olympics, strip their accreditations and kick them out of the athletes village.

“We are in contact with the national Olympic committees to see what action they will take, and then we will decide accordingly,” Rogge told the AP news agency.

Asked whether the IOC could take its own action, he said: “That is a possibility if needed”.

The IOC could also investigate any team officials, coaches or trainers involved in the badminton case.

Meanwhile, the BWF dismissed appeals for two South Korean women’s doubles teams and said an appeal by an Indonesian pair had been withdrawn. The Chinese team did not appeal.

‘Detrimental to the sport’

The doubles teams deliberately conceded points in an apparent attempt to lose their round-robin matches to secure a more favourable spot in the next round.

Fans booed when it become clear they were trying to lose matches on Tuesday, hitting serves into the net.

The BWF found the players guilty of not giving their best efforts and “conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport”.

The eight disqualified players are world doubles champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China, South Korean pairs Jung Kyun-eun and Kim Ha-na, and Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung, and Indonesia’s Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.

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

The round-robin format can allow results to be manipulated to earn an easier matchup in the knockout round.

China’s Olympic delegation said it would investigate the country’s badminton team.
 
“The Chinese delegation is currently investigating relevant personnel and will deal with the matter according to the results of the investigation,” the delegation said in an emailed statement.

‘Waste energy’

The Group A match between the powerful Chinese pairing of Yu and Wang and unseeded South Korean pair Jung and Kim came under scrutiny by the BWF after the Chinese lost heavily.

There were no rallies of more than four shots in the match.

Their defeat meant Yu and Wang avoided playing fellow Chinese pair Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei, who had finished second in Group D.

Yu said after the match: “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.”

Source: News Agencies