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Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Olympics: Farcical scenes mar badminton doubles

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The women's doubles competition at London 2012 descended into farce and scandal at Wembley Arena as two pairs appeared to deliberately start playing to lose.

Chinese top seeds Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang and the South Koreans Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na were booed off after an extraordinary match in which players regularly served into the net or hit wide apparently on purpose.

Both pairs had already qualified for the last 16 and their actions appeared to be an attempt to manipulate the final standings in Group A.

The reasons for both pairs wishing to do this were unclear but by ultimately losing the match, the Chinese now cannot play their compatriots and second seeds Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei until the final.

Tian and Zhao were sent off their natural path to the final as second seeds after losing to Denmark's Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen earlier in the day.

The downside to losing is that they could face a theoretically tougher quarter-final.

The Korean pair won the match 21-14 21-11. The longest rally in the first game was just four strokes.

Match referee Thorsten Berg came on to court at one point to warn the players.

The farce continued later in the evening when another Korean pair, the third seeds Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung, appeared to start playing up against Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.

Both pairs had also already qualified for the next stage from Group C, the connection with the earlier incident being that the pool winners would play Wang and Yu next.

The Korean pairs would play each other in the quarter-finals if Ha and Kim lost.

Berg returned to court and brandished the black card, which means disqualification, but after protests from the Indonesians it was rescinded and the match resumed.

The match between the Koreans and Indonesians proceeded until the third game, when the Koreans delayed.

The referee came courtside again despite attempts by the Indonesia coach to restrain him but this time did not approach the players.

The Koreans won 18-21 21-14 21-12 and made a swift exit from the court.

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