China’s badminton players charged with deliberately losing game

An investigation has been launched by China’s Olympic sports delegation after two badminton players were accused of deliberately losing their match.

In total, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) has charged eight players, two of which are doubles players Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli from China, for not playing to their maximum potential to win.

The other six players charged were competing for South Korea and Indonesia, four and two players respectively.

Any behaviour going against the spirit and morality of sport has been opposed by China’s Olympic Committee and further action will be taken once the investigation has reached a conclusion.

During a match between South Koreans Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na against China’s Yang and Xiaoli, the referee came onto the court to warn the players who appeared to deliberately be erring as the longest game lasted just four shots.

However, Yu Yang said that since they were already through to the quarter-finals, their performance reflected the need to save strength because they did not want to waste energy.

In a match seeing South Korea’s Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung play against Indonesia’s Meiliana Juahari and Greysia Polii, both appeared adamant on losing so as to avoid playing the Chinese pairs in the next round.