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BEIJING: China’s badminton head coach has admitted ordering a
player to throw a crucial tie at the 2004 Olympic Games.
Coach Li Yongbo told China Central
Television’s sports channel that the 2004 Athens Olympics
semifinal was fixed to improve China’s chances of winning a gold
medal.
Two Chinese players, Zhou Mi and Zhang Ning,
were drawn together in the semifinal tie.
After watching Zhang win the first game, the
coaching staff decided that she would have a better shot at winning
the final against a non-Chinese opponent rather than Zhou.
“After the first game, Zhang looked in better
all round shape,” Li was quoted as saying in a report on the
interview by Sina.com, a popular website.
“So we told Zhou Mi not to work too hard and
let Zhang into the final.”
Li said he and the Chinese team had nothing to
be ashamed of. “It shows our patriotism and in fact I am proud of
it.”
Li’s admission revived long-standing concern
about behind-the-scenes arrangements at top international table
tennis and badminton events by Chinese teams.
The practice first surfaced in 1987, when He
Zhili ignored an order to throw a semifinal to teammate Guan Jianhua
at the 1987 world table tennis championships.
She went on to win the final, but was left out
of the 1988 Seoul Olympic team as punishment.
Suspicions are still rife about Wang Dan’s
defeat to teammate Chen Jin in the recent all-England badminton
final, with some experts suggesting that Wang threw the game.
-- AFP
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