Intro:

Chinese badminton star Yu Yang is apparently quitting the sport after she was one of eight players disqualified from the London Olympic Games doubles tournament on Wednesday (August 1st) for trying to lose group games in order to secure an easier path through the knockout stages.

Script:

Few would have predicted badminton would be the most talked about sport at the 2012 Olympics.

However the actions of four female doubles teams who were disqualified for apparently playing poorly in an effort to secure a more favourable tie in the next stage of the competition has given the sport all the wrong headlines.

Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli of China were one of the offending teams, however for this club player in Beijing, the buck shouldn't stop at the players.

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Ran Wei, badminton enthusiast:

"The organising committee is responsible for it, too. Of course, the main fault goes to the players. It was an international competition, it was the Olympics, all players should try their best to play in the match. If they played like that, they are against the Olympic spirit, and it should not be encouraged. I think both the organising committee and the players are responsible for that."

Yu Yang has since quit the sport, that's according to a comment on her microblogging site.

The comment read: "This is my last game. Farewell Badminton World Federation. Farewell my dear badminton."

The reaction back in Beijing is one of empathy:

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Li Jiangsheng, Engineer and badminton enthusiast:

"I think it is quite normal that young people like her couldn't understand and accept the punishment, especially when it is just announced, but I think the Chinese Olympic delegation and all team members should do something to help her understand this. I still believe she has a lot of room to improve in the future."

While several individual athletes from various sports have been disqualified in the past, this is the first mass disqualification in Olympic history.