London Diary: Losing despite winning

Despite their resounding victory over Yao Lie and Shinta Mulia Sari of Singapore, Jwala and Ashwini were nervous as they came off court. Three teams had two wins each in their group, and nobody was sure if the Indians had qualified.

There was a huddle around a big board, where all the scores were being marked and team standings decided. Ashwini couldn’t beat to look at it and decided to wait for her fate to be decided. Jwala was nervous like never before.

Eventually, the math worked out against them. They had lost their first match to Japanese world No.5 pair Mizuki Fujii/ Reika Kakiiwa, but bounced back after a great win over No.10 Cheng Wen Hsing/ Chien Yu Ching (Tpe), and a thrashing of the Singaporeans. With the three teams having an identical score of two wins and one loss, it came down to the number of games won versus those lost. In this case, the Indians were tied with the Japanese – four games won to three lost. That meant a head-to-head countback…. and Japan had beaten India, which meant Japan was through.

Ashwini was inconsolable. It will take time to recover from the shock of having won two matches out of three in the group, and yet not making it to the quarterfinals. Their straight-games loss to Japan in the first match had come back to haunt them.

Tuesday was a black day for badminton. It was perhaps the first time that one saw two teams trying to lose. What necessitated this was the upset of world No.2 Qing Tian/ Zhao Yunlei of China against a Danish pair. That meant the Chinese would face their teammates and world No.1 Yu Yang/ Wang Xiaoli in the quarters – unless the World No.1 pair lost in their last group match against the Koreans (Kyung Yun Jung/ Kim Ha Na). The Koreans themselves were probably keen to avoid an encounter with the Chinese in the quarters and were determined to come second in their group.

It was probably the worst-ever advertisement for badminton. Both teams served wide and into the net; the smashes were frequently off mark. The spectators booed. Eventually, the Koreans ‘won’. It was a ridiculous show. John McEnroe and Michael Johnson, guests on BBC’s Olympics coverage, warned that this could put spectators off badminton. Can organisers take action? How do you prove deliberate incompetence?

I’m only thankful that this wasn’t the quarters or semis! Some critical voices on the new group format was heard, but I do think the group format is better than the elimination. There have been several instances of teams deciding to throw matches even in the other system.