Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Goodbye beloved badminton, says disgraced player

Updated at 10:35 pm on 2 August 2012

A Chinese badminton player disqualified from the Olympic Gamess says her dream has been "heartlessly shattered" and she is quitting the sport.

"This is my last time competing," Yu Yang has tweeted, the BBC reports. "Goodbye Badminton World Federation; goodbye beloved badminton."

Yu and her playing partner Wang Xiaoli were among eight badminton competitors disqualified for deliberately throwing their matches. Two South Korean pairs and an Indonesian pair were also disqualified.

China has said it fully respects the decision to disqualify its players. Head badminton coach Li Yongbo has apologised, saying they failed to demonstrate "fighting spirit".

Yu is blaming new competition rules for causing the problem: the introduction of a round-robin stage, rather than a straight knockout tournament, means that losing one match can lead to an easier match in the next round.

She says the players were simply leveraging the new rules to ensure that they performed better.

''It's as simple as that; nothing complicated," she added. "But there is no forgiveness for that.''

Yu, Wang and their team leader have been told to make a public apology.

Coach Li says the "key point is we did not behave professionally as athletes and did not treat each match seriously. We didn't strive with all our might in the Olympic way."

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