Kuala Lumpur: The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Friday suspended He Jiting, Tan Qiang, Liu Yuchen, and recently retired Li Junhui from competition for three-month after they were found to have violated the BWF code of conduct over “betting wagering and irregular match results” at the 2018 Fuzhou China Open.
Here is the 2018 Fuzhou China Open quarter-final match between He Jiting/Tan Qiang and Liu Yuchen/Li Junhui:
Below is the complete statement from BWF:
“The Badminton World Federation (BWF) can announce the outcome of an integrity case involving four men’s doubles players from China: He Ji Ting, Tan Qiang, Li Jun Hui (now retired), and Liu Yu Chen.
The four players were found to have violated Article 3.1.2 of the 2017 BWF Code of Conduct in Relation to Betting, Wagering, and Irregular Match Results for failing to use best efforts to win a match at the Fuzhou China Open 2018.
The Independent Hearing Panel (IHP) issued three-month bans from all badminton-related activities to each player. These sentences were suspended for a probationary period of two years starting 25 January 2022. Should there be any repeat offences within the two-year probation period the three-month bans will take effect.
Each player was also required to forfeit their prize money from the Fuzhou China Open 2018: He Ji Ting/Tan Qiang (US$12,250) and Li Jun Hui/Liu Yu Chen (US$2,187.50).
As per the Judicial Procedures, the athletes had the right to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 21 days of the notice of the reasoned decision. However, no appeal was lodged.
The reasoned decision of the IHP can be downloaded from the BWF website (reasoned decisions).”
He Jiting/Tan Qiang eventually won the quarter-final match against Liu Yuchen/Li Junhui 21-15, 14-21, 21-19, they then beat Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia 21-14, 21-15 in the semi-final, before losing to another Indonesian pair – Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 27-25, 17-21, 15-21 in the final.
Although the Chinese Badminton Association quickly released a statement to accept the ruling by saying “it will continue to strengthen, educate and manage the team to ensure the athletes cherish every opportunity to compete”, the BWF should start questioning and investigating some recent results from the Chinese women’s singles shuttlers, especially matches involving the Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Chen Yufei.
Chen defeated compatriot He Bingjiao 21-16, 13-21, 21-12 in the Tokyo Olympics women’s singles semi-final, before winning the Olympic gold against Tai Tzu Ying in the final. By simply looking at the score, the semi-final match seemed very intense. But only these Chinese shuttlers knew what the reality was.
In the 2022 German Open semi-final, Chen defeated Zhang Yi Man 21-13, 19-21, 21-13 in the semi-final before losing to He Bingjiao 14-21, 25-27 in the final. Zhang looked to sustain an injury in the third set of the semi-final match, but who knows, she could fake the injury to save Chen some energy before the final.
Then, one week after the 2022 German Open, in 2022 All England quarter-finals, He Bingjiao gave Chen a walkover so that Chen could play Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the semi-finals.
As Spain’s 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist – Carolina Marin said in an interview in 2016, “China’s injury was part of their strategy”. She indicated faking an injury and faking bad form was common within Chinese shuttlers.
