Eight players kicked out

Eight badminton players were disqualified from the Olympics yesterday after a scandal over “throwing” matches.

Four pairs in the women’s doubles competition – one from China, one from Indonesia and two from South Korea – were barred after being hit by disciplinary charges of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

The BWF confirmed that the eight had been disqualified for trying to lose matches in the round robin phase to manipulate the knockout draw.

A last-ditch appeals process was also rejected in the minutes leading up to the scheduled quarter-final start time.

“The appeals committee chairman rejected the cases... the decision of the disciplinary commission stands,” said BWF secretary-general Thomas Lund.

The players at the heart of the scandal had been charged 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”.

They were allegedly attempting to manipulate the final standings in the first-round group stage, with two pairs who had already qualified apparently wanting to lose to secure a favourable draw in the next round.

The eight are Chinese top seeds Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli, South Korea’s Ha Jung-Eun and Kim Min-Jung as well as Jung Kyung-Eun and Kim Ha-Na and Indonesian pair Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.

The Group A match at Wembley Arena between Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli and unseeded South Korean pair Jung Kyung and Kim Ha-Na late Tuesday 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 in the quarter-finals.

London Olympics chairman Sebastian Coe described the scandal as “depressing” and “unacceptable”, but officials said spectators who had paid to watch the farcical matches would not be refunded.

“It’s depressing,” Coe told reporters yesterday.

“Who wants to sit through something like that? It is unacceptable.”