London 2012 Olympics: Badminton shambles a ‘little hiccup’ says chief

Published on 16/08/2012 02:32

The head of the international badminton federation says the playing-to-lose incident leading to eight players being disqualified from the London Olympics was only a “hiccup” that should not reflect badly on the sport in the long term.

Four women’s doubles pairs were thrown out of the games after trying to lose their last group matches in order to get an easier path to the final in the knockout round.

Thomas Lund, the head of the Badminton World Federation, said in a statement yesterday that “our disciplinary committee went in and sent out a strong message that this is not acceptable” and that “this sent a message to the youth of the world that this is not our sport”.

He added that “people will probably remember the little hiccup, but there are so many positives we can take out of this”.