Players banned for match-throwing, UK wins golds

LONDON - Eight women's badminton players were disqualified by the sport's governing body on Wednesday for trying to lose on purpose to secure favorable draw, while the hosts finally claimed their first gold medals at the London Games after four days of agonizing wait.

The four doubles pairs - one from China, one from Indonesia and two from South Korea - were charged by the Badminton World Federation with "not using one's best efforts to win a match" and "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport."

South Korea and Indonesia appealed the disqualification, but the BWF rejected the South Korean appeal and the Indonesia challenge was withdrawn. China accepted the federation's decision.

"The behavior by Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli on court violated the Olympics ideal and the spirit of fair play. The Chinese delegation feels distressed over this matter," the Chinese Olympic delegation said in a statement.

The eight disqualified players are world doubles champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China and South Korean pairs Jung Kyun-eun/Kim Ha-na and Ha Jung-eun/Kim Min-jung and Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.

Wang and Yu and their South Korean opponents Jung and Kim were booed and jeered by the spectators Tuesday night at the Wembley Arena when they deliberately hit shots out of court and served into the net. The Chinese pair eventually lost 21-14, 21-11 and avoided an early clash with their compatriots.

South Korea's Ha/Kim and Indonesia's Jauhari/Polii then took to the court and followed suit in an attempt to avoid meeting Wang and Yu in the quarter-finals.

Chinese badminton head coach Li Yongbo apologized for the scandal.

"As the head coach, I owe the fans and the Chinese an apology," said Li. "Chinese players failed to demonstrate their fighting spirit of the national team. It's me to blame."

Not all bad news for China on the fifth full day of competition. The Asian powerhouse snatched four gold medals in table tennis, diving, weightlifting and swimming to raise their tally to 17, well ahead of the United States, who have 12.

In table tennis, Li Xiaoxia outclassed world champion Ding Ning in an all-Chinese final to win the women's singles gold. Li won 11-8, 14-12, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4.

China has won every women's singles title in table tennis since the sport was introduced to the Olympics in 1988.

In diving, four down, four to do: the gold medal won by Qin Kai and Luo Yutong in the men's 3-meter synchro springboard was the fourth earned by the Chinese "Dream Team". They are now halfway in their quest to clean sweep all eight gold medals.

China also picked up its fourth gold medal in weightlifting when Lu Xiaojun bettered his own world records in snatch and total to win the men's -77kg class.

Lu snatched 175kg, 1kg better than his previous mark, and made a best clean and jerk of 204kg to register a combined total of 379kg, also 1kg better than his own world record.

"I was full of confidence throughout and I believe I could do it," Lu said after the comptition.

Jiao Liuyang improved on her silver medal won four years ago to capture gold in women's 200m butterfly in 2:04.06. Spain's Mireia Belmonte Garcia took silver in 2:05.25, with Japan's Natsumi Hoshi third in 2:05.48.

Also in the pool, two more world records fell.

Hungarian Daniel Gyurta set the tone with a world record victory in the men's 200m breaststroke in 2 minutes 7.28 seconds, shaving 0.03 off the previous mark set by Christian Sprenger of Australia in 2009.

America's Rebecca Soni then added another world record in the women's 200m breaststroke semis.

To the relief of tens of thousands of anxious Britons, Team GB scooped two gold following a series of disappointment in the opening days of their home Games.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning rowed to victory in the women's pair, in front of a home crowd of 25,000 including Princes William and Harry.

"It's so surreal, it will take forever to sink in," said Glover.

Cyclist Bradley Wiggins, fresh from his Tour de France triumph, won the cycling time trial.