Jakarta: Former men’s doubles world champion has called on Badminton World Federation (BWF) chiefs to take corruption in the sport more seriously, a report said Tuesday, after two top Danish players revealed they were approached to fix matches.
The 1996 Olympic gold medalist, now head of athlete development in the Indonesian badminton federation, was concerned after two Danish shuttlers said in last October they had been approached via social media to fix matches at the Japan Open.
“We have easy access to follow matches online or via live streaming, unlike in my era,” Mainaky, now the head of athlete development and achievement at the Indonesian Badminton Association, was cited as saying in the Jakarta Post newspaper on Tuesday.
“Therefore, the BWF should take this matter more seriously.”
World number 11 Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, one of the Danes approached to fix matches, recently told AFP it would be naive to think that all badminton matches were clean, warning “no tournament is safe” from corruption.
He revealed last year that he was approached via Facebook at the Japan Open by a man he had met at previous tournaments, who claimed to have fixed matches at last year’s Singapore Open and Thomas Cup.
Vittinghus’s fellow Dane and doubles specialist Kim Astrup was also offered 2,500 to 3,000 euros (US$2,650-3,175) to throw matches, as well as the chance to bet on the outcomes.
Both players declined and reported the incident to the BWF, which handed it over to the police for investigation.
Mainaky said match fixing was rare in badminton but the sport wasn’t immune to misconduct, including teams throwing matches when playing opponents from their own country.
— AFP
BadmintonPlanet.com’s note to BWF:
Usually, money is the main motivation for match fixing. However, some people or some teams are also involved in match manipulation such as walkover for non-monetary purposes. As the Olympic qualification period fast approaching, we are going to see more and more walkovers, withdrawals and retirements from certain team in order to push-up their players’ rankings. BWF should investigate into those pre-match withdrawal or walkover matches and should impose penalties in the event of a walkover that happen without a legitimate or a valid medical reason.
