Chinese badminton star ordered to throw Olympic semi in Sydney 2000

badminton champion Ye Zhaoying claims she was forced to throw her semi-final at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 to increase the chances of a gold medal for one of her compatriots, in an interview broadcast on Saturday by Danish television TV2. Twenty-two years later, the former world number one, who won bronze in Australia, says she was pushed by the team management to lose her match against Gong Zhichao so as not to "tire her too much" ahead of a final against Danish champion Camilla Martin. "They asked me to do this.

They told me not to let it look like I was losing on purpose. But at the same time, they wanted me not to tire Gong Zhichao too much," Ye alleged on TV2. "They wanted me to lose in two sets, not in three sets, so that I wouldn't tire her out too much.

"You can go and watch (the match) again. I would purposely put points out of bounds, stuff like that, or make sure (the shuttlecock) did not go over the net. I had no choice." Ye, however, stopped short of naming individual coaches or management staff she claims instructed her to lose the match.

"We feel very helpless, because we are alone against the system," she said. "The Olympics is almost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an athlete, so it's really sad. But as an individual, I couldn't argue with the system." Gong duly went on to beat Martin in the final and win the gold medal.

In a press release, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said it "can't comment on specific details related to this historic incident" but that measures were in place to combat corruption. "Accusations of this nature are something we consider very seriously,"said BWF president Thomas Lund in the statement. "Match manipulation of any kind is not tolerated in badminton.