Eight female badminton players were disqualified from the Olympic Games in London for purposely losing matches to receive more favorable placements in the tournament.
The Badminton World Federation announced their decree after investigating two South Korea teams and one from China and Indonesia. The Federation took punitive action against the squads for "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" in matches Tuesday night.
The eight disqualified players are world doubles champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China and their South Korean opponents Jung Kyun-eun and Kim Ha-na, along with South Korea's Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung and Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.
On Tuesday night, the teams were booed when it became clear that they were intentionally losing their matches.
The reason that teams were rigging results was a product of the new round-robin stage in which teams are seeded according to matches before going into straight knockout matches. The drama began when one Chinese squad lost unexpectedly to a Danish team in the morning. That forced the No. 2 pair onto a course where they would battle with Wang and Yu in the semi-finals rather than the final.
As a result Wang and Yu intentionally set out to lose their next match so as to be put in the bottom tier of the draw. The South Korean squad they faced played just as poorly but Wang and Yu eventually got what they wanted and lose.
An hour later, Ha and Kim of South Korea pulled off the same stunt in hopes of avoiding Wang and Yu in the quarter finals, but the Indonesians seemed intent on the same goal. Both teams were warned by an umpire and ultimately disqualified by black cards. The cards were eventually withdrawn on the promise of better play from both squads. Eventually Indonesia lost, forcing Ha and Kim into the match they were trying to avoid.
The matches drew the ire of numerous members of the badminton community who derided the exhibition as a "circus match."
The teams from South Korea have already filed an appeal and word is that the Indonesia squad will do the same.
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