When following the best tactics for winning gold gets you disqualified for match-throwing, something is wrong with the game.
Eight badminton players have been kicked out of the Olympics for manipulating the quarter-final draw – two from China, four from South Korea and another two from Indonesia. The players tried to deliberately lose points in round one in order to set up an advantageous round two. Score lower points in the first match, and you’ll be pitched against weaker players in the second.
This meant that Tuesday’s matches weren’t all that that fun to watch, and the subsequent scandal attracted criticism from former British Badminton star Gail Emms (amongst others). She told BBC Five Live:
“You cannot do this in an Olympic Games, this is something that is not acceptable and it just makes not only our sport but the organisers and the poor crowd who had to watch, who pay good money to watch two matches….it was just disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful.
“I would disqualify them.”
But the problem with condemning what these players did is that they weren’t fixing matches for betting purposes – they were just trying to win overall. The structure of the game, in fact, dictated this move. Perhaps we should be examining all the players who didn’t try to exploit the loophole. Are they serious about winning gold?
Bridget Jones said it best:
“I got in the lift to go home and found Daniel in there with Simon from marketing talking about the footballers being arrested for allegedly throwing matches. “Have you heard about this, Bridget?” said Daniel. “Oh yes,” I lied, flailing for an opinion. “Actually, I think it’s all rather petty. I know it’s a thuggish way to behave, but as long as they didn’t actually set light to anyone, I don’t see what all the fuss is about.”
Content from our partners
Related
Join the debate
Subscribe here to comment