Eight top seeded female badminton players were sent home after admitting to losing their matches on purpose.
These eight players were purposefully dropping points in order to get an easier draw for the medal round.
The botching of play was so blatantly obvious that after players continuously hit the birdie into the net and served it out of bounds, the fans started to pick up on the mischievous play at hand. They booed the players off the court.
These athletes have already been sent packing, but it brings up a very interesting question, is this the correct call?
In sports, it is not uncommon to lose games during the current season in order to get a higher draft pick for the next year. Essentially, these girls were doing the same thing. They were losing today to make tomorrow easier, a very smart strategy on their part.
Of course, you don’t set up the Olympics in a way that people try to lose, but you can’t blame the athletes for finding a loophole.
Perhaps it is time to make some edits to the rule book for 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.