Who's hot, who's not in China Sports (Week 31)

Throwing a game such a racket?

News of the disqualification of eight badminton players, including two Chinese, who deliberately tried to lose their matches for a more favorable draw in the medal round, has upstaged all other positive, inspiring stories from yesterday and become the biggest scandal of the Olympics.

You can click this link to watch the controversial China-South Korea woman's mixed double game.

The ugly matches and World Badminton Federation's decision to exclude the eight players has triggered a heated debate worldwide. In China, people from all circles are sounding off on their micro blogs with mixed reviews.

Cases of match fixing are not unusual, if not common in China. And the Chinese badminton team has been criticized for game manipulation many times. The most notorious one goes to Lin Dan, its top male player who withdrew habitually before and during a match for patriotic reasons often excused as injuries, while the critics believed he quit to help his pals earn points easier and climb the world ranking.

But why has this match-throwing disgrace created such fuss, leading to the severest penalties from the WBF? Everybody gets manipulated matches happen in lots of sports in order to get a more favorable place.

The Chinese chose to concede the match in case of a semifinal encounter with the other Chinese duo. Unfortunately, their Korean foes appeared to be thinking the exact opposite way. Then the farce began as both sides sprayed hopeless shot into the nets and beyond lines, even the disgruntled crowd of 4,800 booed and the referees gave warnings twice.

So tactically, it is understandable or even laudable in some pundits' eyes what they were pondering. The problem is they had the worst execution ever (promise to me you have watched the video) and played the spectators for fools.

Sorry girls, in taking advantage of the new rules for an easier draw, you took the risk of breaking your morals, and since you have got caught you have to bear the consequences.

But in fact, it is not their disqualification but the Chinese sports authorities' buck-passing that really irritated most.

First the Chinese delegation did not file an appeal to WBF's decision as South Korea and Indonesia teams did. Then it released a statement, expressing support for the decision and criticizing the players for not giving their best.

"They are scapegoats of the boss!" A micro blogger called out on China's Twitter-like Weibo, a sentiment echoed by many who claimed the cunning officials gave the order to players and then shifted the blame to them following the exposure.

Wang Yang, one of the disqualified Chinese shuttlers, said on her micro blog late Wednesday that she decided to retire from the game. She also defended her behavior that it was out of energy reservation.

By the way, has the number of appeals at this Olympics already hit a record high? Now I see why the Queen had such a gloomy face at the opening ceremony.