XINHUA (China), CHINA DAILY (China), BBC NEWS (UK)
LONDON - Eight women badminton players from Korea, China, and Indonesia were disqualified from the London Olympics for unsporting conduct on Wednesday.
Chinese double players Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli are accused by the Badminton World Federation of deliberately losing a game on Tuesday to get easier rivals in the playoffs. The other disqualified players are Jung Kyun-Eun, Kim Ha-Na, Ha Jung-Eun and Kim Min-Jung, all of South Korea, and Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii from Indonesia, writes Chinese news agency Xinhua.
"We applaud the federation for having taken swift and decisive action," said IOC communications manager Emmanuelle Moreau. "Such behavior is not compatible with the Olympic values."
Chinese player Yu Yang said after the recent match: "We've already qualified, so why would we waste energy? It's not necessary to go out hard again when the knockout rounds are tomorrow,” Xinhua reports.
The Chinese Olympic Federation announced that it had opened an investigation in the matter, reports China Daily.
"The Chinese Olympic Committee is devoted to promote the Olympic spirit, carries forward the sports spirit of equity and justice, and opposes any kind of behaviors to violate the sporting spirit and morality," the spokesman said. He also added that further actions would be taken according to the results of the investigation, reports China Daily.
Here's another perspective on the matter, courtesy of Twitter:
If those cheating badminton players are disqualified, will we just be left with goodminton players?
— Lee Harris (@LeeAHarris) Août 1, 2012