Badminton in The Olympics - Is it Wrong to Strategize?
By Muelitz
@Muelitz (1592)
Canada
August 2, 2012 9:20am CST
There were 4 badminton teams that were disqualified in the badminton event. These 4 teams have been accused of deliberately playing to lose so that they will be matched up against a weaker opponent in the finals which would assure them of a medal. Apparently the rules of the event was changed and teams can avoid a match with a stong contender if they lose. I am not sure exactly how it works but thats the 4 teams intention. I saw some clips of the game and it really is very odd that the best teams in badminton would maka faulty serve. In any case, these teams are good and smart. They found a loophole and they tried to take advantage. The thing is in the Olympics, you always have to play your best and what they did was not acceptable. What is your take in this matter?
2 people like this
12 responses
@youless (112485)
• Guangzhou, China
3 Aug 12
The day before yesterday I learned that four teams were not qualified to go to play in next round due to the negative attitude in the matches. I think they deserved to this punishment. The match was quite boring because they just wanted to lose it. How can you believe that professional world-top badminton players can play the badminton like this? I feel ashamed to it since it is not the spirit of the sports. Even if they could win the gold medal by this trick, I don't think it is an honor anyway.
I love China
@lampar (7584)
• United States
5 Aug 12
Actually that half dozen of players are not professional neither world top badminton players, they are just scum and disgrace individual who are too weak to compete except think of cheating their way to victory in the Olympic game through various loop hole in the rule. It is a big shame to themselves and their country of origin.
@jontiee (24)
•
3 Aug 12
I think this takes away from the sportsman-ship of the olympics. It is a form of cheating but i am more concerned that they are not playing sport properly. These teams did not want to play China because they thought that they would lose. This is silly because they should not just assume that they are going to lose because that is not what sport is all about. In my opinion these teams should be banned becuase if we let this incident slip then teams like China in badminton are not going to enjoy the olympics because they will end up playing the worst team! Can somebody give me an argument saying they should not have been banned?
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
3 Aug 12
Admittedly, badminton is not a sport that I follow, so I can't say anything about the rules of the game or the rules of a pool or whatever it is. However, this scandal was something that I first heard of yesterday from my husband. He was trying to explain it to me, but I didn't understand what he was talking about. You've made it more clear to me and I can say that doing what these athletes have done was something that was wrong and definitely not something that I think is in the spirit of the Olympics.
@aswath_10 (53)
• India
3 Aug 12
I feel its against spirit of the game.. But if we see it practically all members want to play with weaker opponents so that they can enter finals easily.. This is definitely the fault of the organizer who made round robin method instead of knock outs.. so the players may be warned but disqualifying is severe punishment given to them..
@cestcest (15)
• China
3 Aug 12
I guess Olympics is really a great games that in the world.Everybody should play their best in this special moment.Not only in Badminton.We admit that the rules in this great games need to be very strict.We also hope people always have open,equal and fair competition.
@joliefille (3690)
• Philippines
2 Aug 12
I heard about that from a friend and read the news link earlier today. It is still a form of cheating and it's unfair for all those athletes who play fair for the honor of their country. Those athletes should be suspended and never be allowed to play again.
@lampar (7584)
• United States
2 Aug 12
It is such a shameful act taken by these players, they not only bring shame to themselves and dishonor their own country, they also insulted the spirit of sportmanship every athlete has within them by training hard and competing vigorously in Olympic. If they want to cheat the knockout system in any matches by purposely lose in the early game, in order to avoid the possibility of facing a tough opponent later, then they should train to become a con-artist or scammer, instead of competing in Olympic, it is quite refreshing to know that some of these athletes are indeeed scum to their nation. Instead of placing their country in the hall of fame list, they did a good job to earn a place in the hall of shame for their country. 
@sjlskl (3382)
• Singapore
3 Aug 12
In sportsmanship, what they did was in poor taste. Sportsperson should always go into a game looking to win. However, I do not think they should be disqualified from the event. What they did is not illegal. There is a loophole and they exploited it. I blame the game authority for it.
@mrswhitfield (2044)
• Indonesia
2 Aug 12
I call it as BLACK STRATEGY because the athletes earn black card :D its a shame for the athletes, what they did is cheating on another team who played fair with all their best. If they want to get the medal they should show and to the best in competition nomatter how weak or how strong the team they will meet in the next match. Its like they want to control the game result, right? thats cheating.
@paulli3 (312)
• China
3 Aug 12
i think the strategize is wrong. i don't think they should cancel the qualification for participating in competiton, becuase all they did just is reasonable and the strategize is wrong .it can be understand that they want to have a better choice in limination series so they want to lose some games. they don't want to meet some strong opponent. it is normal, now i think the strategize must be changed.
