London: Contrary to reports that Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa may be reinstated in the women's double event, India's re-appeal against the result of a group B match between Japan and Chinese Taipei in the doubles badminton competition, which they alleged was not played in the right spirit and resulted in the elimination of the Indian pair, was turned down here on Wednesday.
Russia, Canada, Australia and South Africa have qualified for the quarter-final spot. Earlier in the day, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) disqualified the eight women players involved in throwing their matches at the London Olympics. Players from China, Indonesia and South Korea were disqualified following a formal disciplinary hearing by the BWF.
On Tuesday, Chinese players were accused of leading the way by deliberately losing a game. This led to other teams behaving in a similar way to try to force an easier quarter-final. At one stage both teams appeared to be trying to lose.
World doubles champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China and their South Korean opponents Jung Kyun-eun and Kim Ha-na were booed loudly by the crowd on Tuesday after dumping serves into the net and making simple errors, such as hitting the shuttlecock wide.
The longest rally in their first game was only four strokes. The umpire warned them and tournament referee Torsten Berg spoke to all four players but it had little effect. At one stage Berg showed a black card, which usually means disqualification, but the game continued. Eventually, the Chinese lost 21-14, 21-11 and both pairs were jeered off the court.
The teams had already qualified for the round of 16, but the result ensured that the top-seeded Wang and Yu will avoid playing their No. 2-seeded Chinese team-mates until the final.
The problem was repeated in the next match between South Korea's Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung and Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii. Both teams were also warned for deliberately losing points in a match the Koreans won 18-21, 21-14, 21-12. The capacity crowd vented its displeasure.
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