Reuters: Sports News: Badminton: Tournament resumes under cloud at Wembley

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Badminton: Tournament resumes under cloud at Wembley Aug 1st 2012, 09:13 LONDON | Wed Aug 1, 2012 5:13am EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Top badminton officials met at Wembley Arena on Wednesday to decide the fate of four women's doubles pairs charged with misconduct for attempting to lose their Olympic matches to secure a more favorable draw. Players from China, South Korea and Indonesia, already qualified for the quarter-finals, plunged the tournament into farce during Tuesday's evening session when they played to lose their dead rubber matches, sparking jeers from the crowd. The Badminton World Federation was forced to announce an investigation late on Tuesday after a storm of criticism from players and coaches on other teams. South Korea's head coach Sung Han-kook admitted two of his women's doubles pairs had attempted to throw their matches, but said it was in retaliation and accused the Chinese team of instigating the tactic. China's world champion pair Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli, who took part in the first tainted match against a South Korean duo, claimed the team was merely trying to conserve their strength for the knockout rounds. Badminton officials introduced a preliminary pool round for London after starting the tournament with knockout rounds in previous Games. Denmark's head coach called for it to be overhauled, given it was liable for manipulation. "We know that China's doing everything they can to make the best possible result for their nation. They don't think as individual players, so it's not a surprise," he told Reuters. "It's so obvious that it's an advantage to lose and it's also a bad system." The fate of the eight players involved remained uncertain as play got underway in the morning session on Wednesday, although all have been named to play in quarter-finals later in the day. (Reporting by Ian Ransom, editing by Matt Falloon) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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