I feel sorry for the atheletes involved. You really don't want to lose - if you did, you wouldn't be at this level - but what happens if you go against your coach's instructions? Particularly if you're from China? Their #1 player has announced her retirement (she was on the team from China that got disqualified), so I guess that's one way to handle it.


>>The badminton match throwing was stunning. Did they really think it would not trigger a sanction? It was an insult to everyone who paid their money and made travel plans just to be there. For starters.
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>I know this won't be a popular sentiment but.................
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>Imagine you're playing in a 1 on 1 basketball tournament. If you win your match you will qualify out of the round-robin section and go the the quarterfinals against Kobe. If you lose you still qualify out of the round-robin secion but your quarterfilans opponent will be Will Perdue.
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>If your goal is to win each match you will be nobel and be out of medal contention.
>If your goal is the highest OVERALL placement you can attain.............
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>Don't blame the atheletes. Blame the organizers who put them in a position where it is actually in the athlete's best interest to lose a particular match to enhance chances for a higher overall placement.