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I'm not sure why anyone thinks the goal of the games is to win a gold. The point of playing any game is to play the game.

There was nothing wrong with the way the tournament was set up. They only wanted players who had traveled far, at great expense, to be able to play more games than a single elimination tournament would have allowed. The fault is entirely with the players and coaches who tried to pervert the system and created lousy matches because of their behavior.

I'm surprised they were only disqualified. The Badminton Federation should have barred them from any future tournaments as well. They know that these players care so little for the game that they'll wreck it trying to get bragging rights. No matter how any future tournament is set up, these players will attempt to do the same again, and they will succeed to some extent or other because there is no such thing as a perfect system. Any system requires the people in it to act in good faith, and these people couldn't be bothered with doing even that.