One of China’s top badminton stars Yu Yang said on Thursday she would quit the sport, a day after she was, along with seven other players, disqualified by the world governing body for throwing games at the London Olympics to secure an easier draw, says a report in The Hindu.
Even as China’s badminton federation said it would order a probe and backed the decision to disqualify four women’s doubles teams – these included two teams from South Korea and one from Indonesia, besides the number one-ranked Chinese pair – sports fans here expressed anger at the decision and widely backed Yu, who accused the world governing body of “shattering my dream mercilessly”.
Yu announced in a message posted on her account on a Chinese Twitter equivalent, Tencent weibo, that she had played her last game. “Bye bye, my beloved badminton,” she wrote.
The popular 26-year-old star, who rose to prominence after winning gold in the women’s doubles competition at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, rejected the criticism directed at her and teammate Wang Xiaoli which suggested that they had thrown their game to avoid meeting their compatriots in the next round.
Meanwhile a report in Hindustan Times says that world badminton has apologised for a scandal that has sullied the sport's reputation at the London Olympics and resulted in eight women being disqualified from the tournament, adding that disgraced Chinese Yu Yang has decided to quit badminton while national officials have told their Olympic team leaders and disgraced players to make a public apology for throwing matches at the London Games.
Yu was among eight women's doubles players expelled from the Games on Wednesday. The others were team mate Wang Xiaoli, South Korean pairs Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na, and Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung, plus Greysia Polii and Meiliana Jauhari of Indonesia.
"This is my last competition. Goodbye Badminton World Federation (BWF), goodbye my beloved badminton," Yu wrote on her Tencent microblog. "We ... only chose to use the rules to abandon the match.
According to a report in The Times Of India, many responded to Yu's shock announcement with support and sympathy, although some remained critical. "Go Yu Yang, never give up!" wrote a user called Zhao Yin.
"This is not your fault, we all understand," said another using the handle "Water World".
But another disagreed: "Yu Yang, this is what you deserve, please do not insult the Badminton World Federation or the noble sport of badminton."
The Olympic match-throwing scandal also saw the Badminton World Federation disqualify two South Korean pairs and one Indonesian duo for trying to lose their first-round games. The players involved were 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".
