Eight badminton players disqualified from Olympic Games

Tournament referee Torsten Berg warns players from China and South Korea. Credit: Bazuki Muhammad / Reuters

The four women's doubles pairs at the centre of a match-fixing scandal at the London 2012 badminton tournament have been disqualified.

The top seeds from China, two pairs from South Korea and another from Indonesia deliberately missed shots in an apparent attempt to lose their matches in order to influence their position in the next round of the competition.

All eight players had been charged by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) 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 disqualified players are:

  • China: Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli

  • South Korea: Jung Kyung Eun and Kim Ha Na

  • South Korea: Jung Eun and Kim Min Jung

  • Indonesia: Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii

The head of the Indonesian Olympic team Erick Thohirhas said that his team will appeal against their disqualification, the Associated Press reports.

Earlier the Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, published a strongly-worded editorial condemning two Chinese badminton players.

The Chinese pair, Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli, as well as two pairs from South Korea and one from Indonesia are accused of trying to lose in an attempt to manipulate a draw.

All the players were booed by an irate crowd as serves were deliberately hit into the net and shots hit wide and long on an embarrassing evening for the sport.

All four pairs had already qualified for the last eight meaning the only thing at stake were the final placings in the group stage.

The fiasco began when Chinese top seeds Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang started to show little interest in beating Koreans Jung Kyung Eun and Kim Ha Na to finish top of Group A.

Coming second would have meant avoiding compatriots and second seeds Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei - who earlier lost to a Danish pair - at least until the final.

The Koreans responded to China's antics by copying them, prompting referee Thorsten Berg to warn all the players. The match restarted and the Koreans went on to win 21-14, 21-11. The longest rally in the first game had been just four shots.

China's Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei - the pair Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang were trying to avoid Credit: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

The matter did not end there as a second Korean pair, the third seeds Ha Jung Eun and Kim Min Jung, then attempted to engineer defeat in their match against Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.

Their motive was apparent retaliation to avoid Wang and Yu in the quarter-finals, an outcome they failed to achieve as they eventually won 18-21, 21-14, 21-12.

The Indonesians were not bystanders in the affair either as they responded to the Koreans by trying to lose themselves.

Berg again intervened and brandished the black card to disqualify the players but quickly rescinded his decision on protest. However, the histrionics - now including time-wasting - continued as the crowd became increasingly restless.

Yu claimed the Chinese tactics had been to preserve energy ahead of the knockout phase.

Gail Emms, a British Olympic silver medallist in 2004, has called the episode "embarrassing" and called for the four pairs to be disqualified. She told the BBC's Five Live radio:

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