Badminton Players Booted from Olympics for Tanking; Reedie Reacts

(ATR) IOC vice president and former badminton chief Craig Reedie tells Around the Rings it’s the role of the federation – not the IOC – to take action in the case of controversies like the one to hit the London Olympics.

"The IOC is not in the business of determining the rules for the Olympic sports," says the Scotsman, 71.

"That’s the job of the federations."

Reedie’s comments come in the wake of the Badminton World Federation’s decision to expel four pairs – or half the remaining field – from the women’s doubles competition for tanking two Tuesday night matches.

A meeting of the BWF’s disciplinary committee Wednesday morning ruled all four pairs – two from South Korea, one from Indonesia, one from China – in clear violation of badminton’s code of conduct, both for not putting their best efforts forward and for actions detrimental to the sport.

China, the top seed and reigning world champs, did not appeal while the Indonesians withdrew theirs later Wednesday, leaving only the case of the Koreans for the BWF’s appeals committee chairman to singlehandedly reject.

Reedie, in the years he’s been associated with the sport, says he’s unaware of similar instances where players deliberately lost a match to improve or change their draw.

"If sport is not competitive," he tells ATR, "it’s nothing."

From 1971 to 1984, Reedie served as chairman and then president of what was then known as the International Badminton Federation.

The sport’s current head, Kang Young Joong of South Korea, was nowhere to be found Wednesday, leaving an afternoon press conference to be handled by BWF secretary general Thomas Lund and deputy president Paisan Rangsikitpho, who did not speak.

"We have an issue we need to review," Lund admitted to reporters, referencing the Olympic competition’s new group play format (instead of knockout rounds from the get-go) that yielded the dead-rubber matches in which pairs were jockeying for more favorable draws.

According to the badminton No. 2, the change adds another dimension to the Games, results in "very interesting" matchups that wouldn’t otherwise occur, and gives players another chance to advance even after a loss.

Lund repeatedly referred to the format as a "tremendous success" so far for the sport and denied reports that the BWF had a working group already looking into the problem before the open of London 2012.

Rather, the federation was closely monitoring all aspects of competition throughout the Olympic qualification period simply as a "precaution" and not because of any prior suspicions of tanking, he clarified.

Lund refused to reveal what testimony players presented in Wednesday morning’s hearing because he was not part of the disciplinary committee.

Asked by ATR whether the BWF had communicated any of the tanking controversy to ticketholders for Wednesday night’s session – in which pairs from Russia, Australia, Canada and South Africa will replace the ousted quarterfinalists – he conceded that’s not a cause of concern for him.

"That’s how it is, but unless they bought their tickets yesterday, nobody could have known anyway who would have been in these games."

Lund confirmed word from LOCOG CEO Paul Deighton earlier Wednesday that no refunds would be issued for Tuesday night’s session.

"The spectators did see a lot of other matches yesterday and did get good value for their money," said the BWF secretary general, stressing the "tremendous atmosphere" among spectators.

Asked about further fallout from the scandal, Lund said he hopes the IOC will judge badminton based not on an isolated incident like this but on the BWF’s ability to react quickly in an unfortunate scenario for the sport.

"I don’t think or hope that our status on the Olympic program will be affected," he told reporters.

"We are very sorry this has happened, both for the players and also for the sport."

Reported by Matthew Grayson

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