Indian appeal rejected; disqualification of four pairs stands

The Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa can consider themselves unlucky to not make the quarterfinals of the Olympics. The disqualification of four women’s doubles teams, announced on Wednesday morning, was confirmed by the Badminton World Federation in the evening, and four other teams were promoted in their place. The Indians were not among those promoted teams as they belonged to a different group.

At a packed press conference with the world’s media in attendance, BWF’s Chief Operations Officer Thomas Lund announced that the Appeals Committee had met once again after the decision to disqualify the four teams were contested by Korea and Indonesia. The Indonesians withdrew their appeal, which left the committee the task of deciding on Korea. “The Appeals Committee decided to reject the appeal,” said Lund. “The decision of the Disciplinary Committee stands. Four other teams – from Russia, Australia, Canada and South Africa – have progressed into the quarterfinals.”

Lund confirmed that the Indian team had lodged a protest against the Japanese team’s loss against Chinese Taipei in their group – which left the Indians third in the group and out of the tournament. Lund said the referee’s team had looked at the complaint and spoken to the officials and rejected it as it had no grounds.

Lund fielded several questions from the media on the conduct of the players, what this would mean for badminton at the Olympics, and whether the group format was indeed the best format at an Olympics. “Through many years, badminton has been played in the group format,” said Lund, referring to the team championships. “It gives an opportunity for great storytelling, to get more exposure to players as they get more games… We live in this world. The world is full of good things and bad things.”