Former World Champion Ye Zhaoying levels match manipulation claims in 2000 Sydney Olympics

Former Chinese superstar Ye Zhaoying has shocked world bminton community by revealing that she was ordered to lose 2000 Sydney Olympics semi-final by Chinese management. 48-year-old recently spoke to TV 2 sport, claiming that her semi-final loss in 2000 Olympics came after being asked to manipulate match against Gong Zhichao. Former World Champion, Zhaoying currently lives in Malaga, Spain with her husband Hao Haidong, who is also a former football star. 

Meanwhile, revealing details about incident after a period of 22 years, Zhaoying said Chinese officials ordered her to lose semi-final in order to fuel her fellow Chinese player Gong Zhichao’s pursuit of a gold medal. team management h allegedly asked former World No.1 to lose her match against Zhichao, so that eventual gold medallist doesn’t get tired out ahe of summit clash against Denmark’s Camilla Martin. “y told me it was important that no one could see that I was losing deliberately,” Zhaoying told TV 2 Sport.

'y wanted me not to tire Gong Zhichao': Ye Zhaoying

Explaining furr details, she ded, “y asked me to do this. y told me not to let it look like I was losing on purpose. But at same time, y wanted me not to tire Gong Zhichao too much. y 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 ( match) again. I would purposely put points out of bounds, stuff like that, or make sure ( shuttlecock) did not go over net. I h no choice.”

However, former World champion restricted herself from naming any coach or management staff regarding match manipulation incident. “ Olympics is almost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an athlete, so it’s really s. But as an individual, I couldn’t argue with system,” she ded. While allegation took bminton world by storm, it also received a reaction from Bminton World Federation (BWF). 

BWF issues a statement on match manipulation allegations by Ye Zhaoying

“Accusations of this nature are something we consider very seriously,” BWF president Thomas Lund said in an official statement. BWF refrained from commenting on specific details related to incident but mentioned that accurate measures were in place to tackle corruption in sport. BWF President went on to mention that federation needs to remain vigilant to ericate corruption from sport.

“Match manipulation of any kind is not tolerated in bminton. We are committed to protecting integrity of sport by putting in place very robust measures for monitoring and investigating acts of match manipulation,” statement furr re. Ye won her first World Championship gold medal in 1995, before defending her World Champion status two years later. She also claimed a bronze medal in 1993 World Championships.