4 Chinese badminton players punished for not trying hard enough

China’s Tan Qiang (L) playing with China’s He Ji Ting (R) returns to Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Indonesia’s Hendra Setiawan during the men’s doubles semi-final at the All England Open Badminton Championship at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, central England, on March 19, 2022. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

Four Chinese badminton players have been punished for breaking anti-corruption rules by failing to try their best in a doubles match, the sport’s governing body said Friday.

He Ji Ting, Tan Qiang, Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen have been hit with three-month bans, but the sentences have been suspended for two years, the Badminton World Federation said.

If there are any repeat offenses within two years, the bans will take effect.

The rule-breaking took place at the Fuzhou China Open in 2018 when Li and Liu faced He and Tan in the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles.

Another player watching the game raised the alarm with officials due to suspicions that the doubles pairs were not making their best efforts to win the match.

During an interval in the game, the officials urged the players to put in more effort. Their performances then improved significantly, and He and Tan went on to defeat their higher-ranked rivals.

Badminton authorities lodged a complaint and, after a lengthy probe, a panel found the players had broken rules aimed at combating corruption by failing to use their best efforts to win a match.

Two other charges, including that they sought to fix the outcome of the match, were dismissed due to a lack of evidence.

The players had denied all the charges.

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