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8 suspended after scandal; Jwala, Ashwini still denied spot
The World Badminton Federation on Wednesday threw out a protest by India, who accused the Japanese women's doubles team of throwing a match against Taiwan at the London Olympics. Sukhwant Basra reports. India at the Games | Badminton's hour of shame | Action should be taken: Ponnappa
Booing at the London Olympics has so far been confined to just good humoured discouragement directed at athletes taking on local British players.
On Tuesday night, however, it erupted at the Wembley Arena in two matches that figured players from the other side of the world attempting to lose instead of trying to win.
A day later, all the eight women badminton players were kicked out of the Games for deliberately trying to lose their doubles matches.
India's coach Gopi Chand had alleged even before the scandal erupted that the number four seeded Japanese pair lost to an unseeded Chinese Taipei combo only to influence a better draw for themselves.
This saw the exit of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa as the Taipei team managed to sneak ahead.
Chinese world champion pair of Xiaoli Wang and Yu Yang on Tuesday looked to lose to their South Korean opponents Kyung Eun Jung and Ha Na Kim as they did not want to finish on top of their group.
It would have led them to face another Chinese pair in the semifinals instead of both of them potentially vying for gold in the final by figuring in opposite halves of the draw.
The Chinese lost 14-21, 11-21 in a farcical encounter with the longest rally of a mere four strokes coming in the first game. With both teams dumping their serves in the net, the crowd erupted in derision.
As if that was not enough, the next match featured two pairs, Korea's Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung versus Meiliana Juahari and Greysia Polli of Indonesia, whose winner would face the best Chinese pair of Wang and Yang in the quarters.
This would have reduced the winner's chances for at least a semifinal berth and a shot at the bronze. The ripple effect saw another charade enacted as both teams tried their best to lose.
That forced the head referee Torsten Berg to come out on court during the match and warn the players to put in their best effort.
On Wednesday, the international badminton federation was forced to throw out all four after examining video evidence and the testimony of the match officials.
