Appeals rejected; Olympic disqualifications upheld

In a press conference at Wembley Arena on Wednesday afternoon, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced that the chair of the Appeals Committee had refused to hear the appeals by the Korean team, ruling instead that the case (see more on the incident here) had already been considered.  Thus the Wednesday morning decision (see more here) by the BWF Disciplinary Committee  was upheld and Wang Xiaoli, Yu Yang, Greysia Polii, Meiliana Jauhari, Jung Kyung Eun, Kim Ha Na, Ha Jung Eun, and Kim Min Jung have all been disqualified from the Olympic women’s doubles competition.  An appeal by the Indonesian team had been withdrawn before being considered and the Chinese team had not filed an appeal.

The decision has resulted in the promotion, to the quarter-finals, of the remaining four pairs from Groups A and C, coincidentally the four lowest-ranked pairs in these Olympic Games.  The disqualification punishment for the eight concerned players, however, affects only the 2012 Olympics and will not affect their eligibility for other events on this year’s badminton calendar.

BWF representatives said that overall, experience with the group play format in badminton had been a ‘tremendous success’ and that any discussion of altering the format in light of the problems in London would wait until after the Olympics.

Click here to view the new standings in the Olympic women’s doubles competition