China 'to Probe Badminton Loss' at Olympics

An official threatens Greysia Polii and Meiliana Jauhari of Indonesia and Jung Eun Ha and Min Jung Kim of Korea (Rt) with a 'black card' disqualification Photo by Getty Images

China's Olympic sports delegation has begun an investigation into allegations two badminton players "deliberately lost" their match, state media says.

Doubles players Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli are among eight players charged by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) with "not using one's best efforts to win".

Four players from South Korea and two from Indonesia have also been charged.

China's Olympic Committee opposed any behavior which violated "sporting spirit and morality", a spokesman said.

Further action could be taken based on the results of the investigation, the spokesman said in a report published by Xinhua news agency.

Bulgarian player Petya Nedelcheva was forthright in her general criticism of China.

"If it is China again, they did it so many times last year, they didn't play against each other in 20 matches. They do what they want," she said, as cited by the Telegraph.

Nedelcheva's comments are supported by figures compiled by online magazine Badzine earlier this year showing that of the 99 all-Chinese matches played in major tournaments in 2011, 20 were walkovers.

Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva had been playing on an adjacent court at the time of the first incident.

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