Match fixing: that must be why they call it badminton and not goodminton

These haven’t been the most scandalous Olympic games in history, but they have been pretty unusual.  From the furor over women athletes in Saudi Arabia to the Greek athlete that got kicked out over Tweets, the Olympics have had some odd scandals for the 2012 London Olympics.  Now, we’ve got a match-fixing scandal in which teams were actively trying to lose.  Eight players were thrown out of the Olympics after deliberately trying to lose to improve their medal round matches in badminton.  Due to the layout of the tournament, the teams from China, South Korea, and Indonesia were racing to the bottom to get a more favorable draw.  Needless to say, the Olympics organizers hated that, and the Asian women were all thrown out of the games.

Among the 8 players given the boot for trying to throw their matches are Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, the reigning world doubles champions in badminton and the top-ranked team from China.  The other six were high-ranked South Koreans Kyung Eun Jung and Ha Na Kim and Jung Eun Ha and Min Jung Kim, as well as  the team of Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii from Indonesia.

South Korea’s appeal has been denied already.  Competitors in the badminton community have rallied to the support of, not the athletes, but the commission that kicked out said athletes.  The badminton scandal has been roundly criticized.

Tags: olympics, london olympics, 2012 olympics, badminton, badminton match fixing scandal, olympic badminton scandal, badminton teams thrown out of olympics, chinese badminton team, south korean badminton team, indonesian badminton team, 8 badminton players kicked out of the olympics for match fixing, trying to lose, Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, Kyung Eun Jung and Ha Na Kim, Jung Eun Ha and Min Jung Kim, Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii

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