China badminton star quits in scandal

BEIJING, Aug 2:
A top Chinese badminton star quit the sport today as an Olympic match-throwing scandal met with dismay and criticism in China, Indonesia and South Korea, from where eight players were disqualified.
The Badminton World Federation’s move to eject a Chinese, an Indonesian and two South Korean duos for failing to play their best, marked the first major scandal of the Games and prompted China’s Yu Yang to retire from the sport.
Sports fans and the media in all three countries expressed disappointment, with some saying it was humiliating to have their national players implicated in the scandal, while others were sympathetic to the athletes.
“Match fixing tramples on sports ethics and shouldn’t be tolerated,” an opinion piece in China’s state-run Global Times said on today.
The paper was among several news outlets and many ordinary citizens from the Asian countries to suggest that the new round-robin format motivated players to lose, though most agreed that nothing excused match-throwing.
China roundly criticised the incident and, alone among the three countries, declined to appeal the decision to disqualify the athletes.
Its sports delegation urged Yu, her partner Wang Xiaoli and head badminton coach Li Yongbo to publicly apologise.
“Chinese players failed to demonstrate the fine tradition and fighting spirit of the national team. It’s me to blame,” Xinhua news agency quoted Li as saying yesterday.
“This has not been easy for the team, the coaches, or our support team, this has not been easy for anyone,” Li also told state media separately.
“I ask the fans, netizens and the people to be patient, wait until the Games are over and I will take time to give an analysis of what has happened … Right now the most important thing is to play the matches well.” (PTI)

Follow our WhatsApp channel