Olympics 2012: Badminton Players Charged for Allegedly Throwing Matches

In what has to be the biggest controversy in the 2012 Summer Olympics so far, the World Badminton Federation (yes, it’s real) “charged eight female players with misconduct” because of their actions during Tuesday’s matches, according to Reuters.

The athletes charged in this case were trying to lose their preliminary matches on purpose so they would not be seeded against fellow teammates as the tournament progresses.

UPDATE: Wednesday, August 1, 8:00 a.m. ET by Donald Wood

After one of the most embarrassing moments in Olympic history, the eight women’s badminton players accused of losing their matches on purpose in the preliminary round in order to dictate the matchups have been disqualified, according to The Daily Telegraph’s Paul Kelso.

The Daily Telegraph is reporting about the punishment handed down for the teams that were reprimanded for throwing matches:

"

BREAKING all eight badminton players accused of trying to lose have been disqualified from women's doubles via @paulkelso #badminton

— Daily Telegraph News (@TelegraphNews) August 1, 2012"

While there are questions surrounding these situations, the Olympic Committee made the right by move banning them from this competition. This is so huge because of the magnitude of teams being disqualified.

Not only is the defending champion and No. 1 overall Chinese pairing out, the No. 3 overall South Koreans are also out. This is a devastating blow to the sport of badminton and a black eye to the Olympics.

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The perpetrators were China's defending champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, Indonesia's Greysia Polii and Meiliana Jauhari and two South Korean pairs (Jung Kyung Eun and Kim Ha-na, and HA Jung-eun and Kim Min Jung.)

To clear up the situation, the WBF released a statement: "The pairs have been charged ... with 'not using one's best efforts to win a match' and 'conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport.'"

While there are much worse situations the Olympics could be facing right now, the fact that teams are throwing matches proves that something is wrong with the way the badminton tournament is organized.

After these games are over and before the Olympics start in Rio, Brazil, in 2016, the Olympic Committee needs to adjust the way the sport is scored to ensure that all teams will be trying through the preliminary matches.

It has become blatantly clear that the top countries have such faith in their players that they will even have them throw games in order to have more of a chance at taking home multiple medals. That ruins the sanctity of the Olympics, though.

However the IOC deems it reasonable, they must make losing in the preliminaries a negative outcome that all teams will try to avoid like the plague.

While it is one thing to pull up at the end of a race to save some fuel for the medal rounds, losing on purpose should not be acceptable.

It’s good to see the World Badminton Federation taking a stand.

Check back for more on the 2012 Summer Olympics as it comes, and don’t miss Bleacher Report’s Olympics page to get your fill of the best athletes the world has to offer.

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