Chinese badminton star reveals foul play at Games 2000 – Wel.nl

COPENHAGEN (AP) – After 22 years, Chinese badminton star Ye Zhaoying has revealed that she deliberately lost to her compatriot Gong Zhichao in the semifinals of the Sydney 2000 Olympic tournament, by order of the team management. Ye had to take it easy so that Gong wasn’t too tired for the final. In it, the Chinese defeated the Danish Camilla Martin. For Ye the bronze remained.

In a broadcast of the Danish TV channel TV2, Ye talks about the sporting fraud. “They asked me to do it like this. It shouldn’t look like I was losing on purpose, but at the same time I had to make sure that Gong didn’t waste too much energy. I had to lose in two games and not in three games. If you look back at the match , you will see that I make mistakes intentionally,” reveals Ye, who does not say which coach or facilitators the order came from.

Ye said he felt helpless in a battle “alone against the system”. The international badminton association BWF said it could “not respond specifically to a case”, but that measures have been taken to combat corruption. “We take this story very seriously,” said chairman Thomas Lund.

The interview with Ye was recorded in Malaga, where she is in exile with her partner, former professional football player Hao Haidong. The couple believes they will not be able to return to China after Hao criticized the Chinese authorities in 2020. Both have been completely removed from Chinese search engines and social media for some time now.