Chinese badminton player Yu Yang on Thursday announced her decision to quit the sport after being expelled from the 2012 Olympic Games in London for throwing matches at the Games.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Yu was among eight women's doubles players expelled from the Games on Wednesday.
The others were teammate Wang Xiaoli, the South Korean pairs of Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na, and Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung, as well as Indonesia's Greysia Polii and Meiliana Jauhari.
“This is my last competition. Goodbye Badminton World Federation (BWF), goodbye my beloved badminton,’’ Yu wrote on her Tencent microblog.
She went on to give an explanation about what really transpired in the matches on Tuesday.
“We only chose to use the rules to abandon the match.
“This was only so as to be able to compete better in the second round of the knockout (stage),'' Yu wrote.
She also expressed her dissatisfaction with the way the whole affair turned out, accusing Games officials of changing the rules and being insensitive to athletes' feelings.
“This is the first time the Olympics has changed the (event's format). Don't they understand the harm this has caused the athletes?’’ the player said.
NANreports that Yu, who was seeded number one alongside Wang was among the eight players who were expelled from the Olympics by the BWF for throwing matches.
They were accused of throwing the matches in a bid to secure more favourable draws later in the tournament.
The sight of the four pairs of players alleged to have deliberately played it easy against each other had disgusted a crowd of 4,800 packed into the Wembley Arena.
Games officials, as well as media reports, had said that the crowd had been expecting to see the best of the world's badminton best players.
They claimed the fans were instead treated with disdain as the Chinese, Korean and Indonesian players sprayed hopeless shots into the net and beyond the lines.
The officials claimed the players' antics were also beamed around the globe to a disbelieving audience, and that it was a disgrace not only to badminton but sports as a whole.
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