KOMPAS.com – Badminton World Federation, BWF, sentenced He Ji Ting, Tan Qiang, Liu Yu Chen and Li Jun Hui.
The last two names are Indonesia’s best men’s doubles rivals, Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
However, Liu and Li had already separated. This is because Liu, who is 1.95 meters tall, has decided to hang up his racket or retire in November 2021 due to an injury and has not been fully fit since 2017.
The four Chinese men’s doubles players were banned from competing for three months. BWF considered that He Ji Ting/Tan Qiang and Liu Yu Chen/Li Jun Hui had violated BWF’s code of ethics when they appeared in the 2018 Fuzhou China Open.
The four players violated Article 3.1.2 of the 2017 BWF Code of Conduct in relation to gambling, betting and unusual match results.
Also read: Li Junhui / Liu Yuchen Win the Indonesian Open Men’s Doubles Number
They are considered not to want to win when fighting in the 2018 China Open match.
As a result, The Independent Hearing Panel (IHP) handed down a three -month sentence to each player. They should not be active in connection with badminton.
However, this sentence is still pending. The pair will be on probation for two years starting January 25, 2022.
If during the probationary period they do the same thing again, a three-month ban from competition will apply.
Not only that. The pair also lost the prize money from the 2018 Fuzhou China Open.
In this Super 750 level tournament, He Ji Ting/Tan Qiang received 12,250 US dollars (approximately Rp. 175.878 million) and Li Jun Hui/Liu Yu Chen received 2,187 US dollars (approximately Rp. 31,399 million).
Thus, He/Tan and Li/Liu had to return the money they had earned.
According to judicial procedure, athletes have the right to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). There are 21 days after the decision is issued.
However, the two Chinese couples did not exercise that right until the decision remained in place.
Also read: Why is the Duel Marcus/Kevin Vs Li/Liu Always Hot?
“The four players are said to have violated article 3.1.2 on gambling, betting and unusual match results, in the Fuzhou China Open 2018,” said the official statement of the BWF, Friday (25/3/2022).
He/Tan and Li/Liu met in the quarter-finals of the China Open 2018. He/Tan won the rubber game with a score of 21-15, 14-21, 21-19.
Then, the winning pair continued their journey to the final after defeating the Indonesian senior men’s doubles, Muhammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan, in straight games 21-14, 21-15.
In the top party, He/Tan had to acknowledge the greatness of the world’s number one pair who became the pride of Indonesia, Marcus/Kevin. They surrendered 27-25, 17-21, 15-12 to The Minions, nicknamed Marcus/Kevin.
The issue of playing soap among Chinese players is nothing new. The results of the women’s singles match at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were also questionable when Chen Yufei defeated her compatriot, He Bingjiao.
In the Olympic semifinals which will take place in August 2021, Chen Yufei won 21-16, 13-21, 21-12. Then, Chen won over Taiwan’s best women’s singles, Tai Tzu Ying, to win the gold medal.
Also read: Ideal Finals! Marcus/Kevin Vs Li/Liu
Then, in the semifinals of the German Open 2022, Chen defeated Zhang Yi Man 21-13, 19-21, 21-13. But in the final match, it was Chen’s turn to lose against He Bingjiao, with a score of 14-21, 25-27.
Zhang was seen playing injured in the third game. Quoted from Badminton Planet, Zhang is suspected of faking his injury so that Chen can save energy to play in the final.
A week after the 2022 German Open, Chen was supposed to meet He Bingjiao in the quarter-finals of the 2022 All England Open.
As it turned out, He Bingjiao chose to withdraw so that Chen advanced to the semifinals without playing, before being defeated by Japanese player, Akane Yamaguchi.
Spanish women’s singles, Carolina Marin, once revealed the injury strategy used by Chinese players. He said that in an interview in 2016.
The 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist said “Injuring the Chinese players is their strategy”. This left-handed player loudly said that pretending to be injured and pretending to play badly was an open secret for Chinese badminton players.
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