Badminton World Federation to modify Olympic format after London Games scandals – Badminton News
It seems Badminton World Federation (BWF) will take all steps to avoid match-fixing scandals in future as they are ready to have another look on Olympic format in the executive board meeting in November 2012.
In London Games, four Women’s Doubles teams tried to lose their group matches to ensure an easy draw in the elimination round of the mega event.
This match-throwing scandal put the future of the game in danger as there were rumours that International Olympic Committee (IOC) is thinking to ban the sport in coming editions of Olympics.
BWF took notice of this situation and disqualified those eight players to save the credibility of badminton event.
Now, BWF president Dr. Kang Young Joon briefed the media that federation will take strict actions to stop this manipulation of rules and regulations.
He also stated that they will evaluate complete tournament and report will be presented in their next meeting which is going to take place in last quarter of this year.
He said, "We will take appropriate action to avoid similar incidents in the future. BWF will carefully assess the present regulations."
Moreover, Dr. Joon also revealed that they will launch campaigns to make the players and coaches realise about ethical standards of the game.
This year, instead of old knock out format; the mega event was played under new round-robin format to provide lower ranked teams a fair chance to register their presence.
BWF wanted to ensure maximum participation from all continents to increase the popularity of game across the globe.
This group-stage system allowed countries like China, Korea and Indonesia to manipulate the loopholes to receive a favourable draw in elimination rounds.
However, BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund was pleased the way this issue was handled as he told that federation’s executive committee is satisfied with their efforts to save the true spirit of game.
He said, "The real problem actually occurs if you cannot deal with it. The [BWF] executive board and the badminton community have actually felt that this has been dealt with swiftly and efficiently."
Later, BWF president Dr Joon summarised the news conference and declared London Games a “Successful Venture”.
He commented that 51 nations graced the badminton event with their presence out of which seven countries took Olympic medals back home.
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