Once again the Olympics are fraught with controversy. In this case, eight badminton players from four double teams have been expelled from the Games for “not doing everything possible to win their matches.” The International Federation of Badminton announced on Wednesday its decision after investigating two South Korean couples, a Chinese couple and an Indonesian couple.

The ones involved are world doubles champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang from 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.

The International Badminton Federation found the players guilty of “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 Tuesday night matches.

Both China and South Korea had two teams in the tournament, so their idea was to lose on their games so they could avoid playing against their other national teams in the next rounds. By doing this, they would just play their national opponents in the final, so a medal would have gone to their country for sure.

On the other hand, Indonesia did not put all the effort in the match because their opponents were not trying either, which is now why they are also being kicked out from the badminton competition.

When it was announced that the athletes were being expelled, both South Korea and Indonesia appealed the decision, while China accepted the federation’s decision.

The latest news says that the Badminton Federation has announced it had rejected the Korean appeals and that Indonesia had withdrawn its appeal.

London Olympics chief Sebastian Coe, also condemned the players attitude: “It’s depressing,” Coe said. “Who wants to sit through something like that. It is unacceptable.”

The International Olympic committee spokesman Mark Adams told the Associated Press that he is happy with the decision taken by the Badminton Federation: “We applaud the federation for having taken swift and decisive action. Such behavior is incompatible with the Olympic values,” he said.

Image Courtsey of  Dan Thomas

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About the author

Francisco Fajardo
Journalist graduated from the Navarra University, he has worked on newspapers and radio in Spain. His passions are sports, history and politics. Now he is part of the Toonari Post team.